Digimon Legacy
by ThrottlemaxRed
Summary: When Digital worlds from 5 alternate universes collide together, Taiki Kudou and his team are called in to restore the balance. By uniting with the heroes from the other universes, they work to save their home world's from a much more worse fate. Contains TaikixYuu
1. Chapter 1: A call for help

"'I would not wish any companion in the world but you.'" Yuu read aloud from his book as he walked with his boyfriend.

"Thanks Yuu!" Taiki said with a smile, not knowing what Yuu said was being read from his book.

"Oh!" Yuu said surprised "I didn't mean you Taiki! I was just reading this quote aloud. But that doesn't mean I don't feel that way!"

"You really are enjoying that book aren't you?" Taiki Asked. "Of course! I've always loved Shakespeare's work!" Yuu said gleefully.

It had been three years sense the defeat of Quartzmon and much had happened in that time. The first being that Taiki and Yuu had started a relationship together, and were about to celebrate their 3rd anniversary. The Time difference from the Human and Digital worlds had synced up after the Demise of Quartzmon, and Ryouma had been reunited with Psychemon, now purified.

"I hope you can find some time to give me some attention when we get back to your place," Taiki grinned. "It is our anniversary after all and I don't want my gift to you to distract you too much."

Yuu blushed. He knew what Taiki was implying, and this made his heart race. Tonight it would be just the two of them, alone.

The two boys arrived at the door to Yuu's apartment when Taiki pulled the blonde in for a kiss. "Come on," Taiki whispered "lets go where it's private."

Yuu opened the door and the two of them stepped inside only to encounter something a bit unsettling.

"SURPRISE!"

Taiki and Yuu were taken aback by what had just happened. Every one of their friends was right their inside of Yuu's apartment.

"What the…" Yuu said shocked at the sudden surprise.

"Happy anniversary you two!" Said Yuu's sister, Nene.

"Nee~san!" You said confused "Did you put all this together?"

"Of course!" Nene responded "I couldn't let my little brother and his adorable boyfriend go without a proper celebration!"

"Gee! Thanks Nee~san!" Yuu said, trying to disguise his disappointment at not being able to be 'alone' with Taiki. The two boys exchanged glances and proceeded to go along with the party. Streamers were hung from the walls, coupled with balloons of each and every color.

"Wow Nene!" Taiki said, gazing at the decorations. "You really went all out for us!"

"Actually it wasn't me who decorated." Nene corrected. "This was all Tagiru's doing. I just made the cake."

The boys looked across the room to find Tagiru in the corner, leaning against the wall. Yuu rushed over to the boy with a smile. "Thanks for all of this Tagiru!" Yuu said cheerfully. Tagiru gave a shy smile to the blonde.

"You're welcome." he said softly. Something seemed off about Tagiru today. He wasn't quite his old cheerful self, but Yuu didn't think too much of it. For another hour, Taiki and Yuu socialized with their friends. Kiriha had managed to make the party, as well as Akari and Zenjiro. As for the hunters, Ren, Airu, Hideaki, and Ryouma had showed up. Yuu still hadn't forgiven Ryouma for stabbing Taiki, even after multiple apologies. As Taiki conversed with Kiriha, The brunette's Xros Loader began to glow.

"Taiki! Taiki can you hear me?!" called a voice from inside the Xros Loader.

Taiki pulled out his Xros Loader and requested everyone be silent. "Wisemon! Is that you? What's wrong?"

"Digital World- In danger! Please- help us!" Wisemon's voice faded in and out during the transmission, and the the screen went blank.

"Wisemon!" Taiki shouted.

Everyone stayed silent. This was quite the shock, to get a distress call from the Digital World after such a long period of peace.

"Everyone!" Taiki said, taking charge. "We have to find a way to get to the Digital World. Something bad has happened and we can't ignore this call to action!" Everyone in the room nodded in agreement, but their was one problem: the Xros Loaders lacked the ability to travel to open gates to the Digital World.

"Maybe that old man can open a gate to the Digital World for us?" Ryouma suggested. Taiki and Yuu exchanged glances. Both of them had their suspicions about the old man's true identity, but not wanting to make the others concerned, they had kept it between the two of them.

"It's worth a shot." said Taiki. "Everyone, split into teams and search the city! whoever find the old man first contacts everyone else!"

Everyone ran out of the apartment complex and took off in separate directions. after an hour of searching, Taiki and Yuu, alongside their Digimon, Shoutmon and Damemon, spotted the old man at the docks.

"You! Old man!" Shoutmon cried as the four raced towards him.

"So, I take it you heard what's going on in the Digital World eh?" said the old man.

"All that we know is that it's in danger." Taiki answered. "We came to see if you could open a gate for us."

The old man turned his back and lifted his head to the sky. "The Digital World as we know it has already been destroyed."

The four gasped at this revelation, but before anyone could speak another word, the old man continued.

"Our Digital World has merged with the Digital Worlds of four other alternate universes, creating one singular world. Time in that world is now passing much quicker than this world." The old man turned around to face the four again and continued. "But that's not all. If the five Digital Worlds are not separated soon, then the human worlds' link to them shall collide. Unlike the Digital Worlds, the human worlds won't survive the collision." The old man took out a small item from his pocket. it was a card resembling a Code Crown. "Kudou Taiki, insert this card into your Xros Loader and it will allow you to open a gate."

Taiki took the card and did as he had been instructed. Sure enough, a large portal opened up in the sky. "Yuu, send out a mass text to everyone. tell them the portal is open, and to hold their Xros loaders up to the sky." Yuu nodded and began composing the message on his phone. "Good luck to you all." The old man said. Taiki and Yuu held their Xros Loaders to the sky and were suddenly lifted up and sucked into the portal.

Taiki awoke and found himself in a field alongside Shoutmon, Yuu and Damemon. "I think we made it." Taiki said as he helped his boyfriend to his feet. the two looked around the Digital World. their were data particles floating around in the air. clearly this world was quite unstable.

Suddenly a large roar was heard. a Groundramon charged towards the boys, and their partners leaped into action. Shoutmon and Damemon digivolved into OmegaShoutmon and Tsuwamon respectively and fired their attacks but to no avail. The Groundramon threw OmegaShoutmon to the ground and pinned him down under his foot. Tsuwamon used his Mantis Dance to try and free his friend, but it was useless. The beast used his tail and swatted Tsuwamon away.

"Tsuwamon!" Yuu cried as he ran towards his injured partner. The Groundramon prepared himself and lunged his mouth at OmegaShoutmon, but suddenly, a yellow, nine-tailed fox Digimon appeared and clawed it's face. this threw off Groundramon enough for OmegaShoutmon to escape its clutches. Then suddenly, another Digimon appeared, this one an orange dinosaur with horns.

"That orange one! It looks like Greymon!" Taiki pointed out. And he was right; it was Greymon, but a different one.

"Alright Greymon! Give him all you got!' said a new voice. Another boy had appeared from atop a hill. He wore a blue headband, coupled with a blue T-shirt and jeans. Next to the boy was a girl who had orange hair tied up atop her head. she had a black leather jacked and torn up jeans. Finally one other boy was present who had a red insect Digimon at his side. this boy sported an orange shirt with a green overshirt over it. his hair was spiky and red, and under his arm was a yellow laptop.

"Tai!" Taiki called out the other brunette and smiled. It was indeed Tai, but he was older than the last time he and Taiki had met.

Greymon fired his Nova Blast at the Groundramon. OmegaShoutmon then kicked the dragon in its face, convincing it to retreat.

After the Digimon had fled, the three other humans raced down to greet Taiki and Yuu.

"Nice to see you again Taiki!" Tai said with a smile.

"So it really is you!" Taiki said.

The girl stepped forward. "You probably don't know me but I met with your friends Kiriha and Nene back in Hong Kong. My name's Rika, and this is my partner, Kyubimon."

"I remember my sister mentioning you and another girl! it's great to finally meet you!" Yuu smiled as he reached his hand out for a handshake.

"And my name is Izzy." the other boy spoke. "This guy right here is my partner, Tentomon. I was part of Tai's original team."

"Hey!" Shoutmon interjected. "I hate to break up the pleasantries, but we kind of have some work to do!"

"Shoutmon's right." said Taiki "we need to find our friends as soon as possible, so we can figure out how we can save out homes."

"No problem!" Tentomon said confidently "Just let me digivolve and we can search from the sky! Tentomon digivolve to...Kabuterimon!"

Everyone loaded onto Kabuterimon and the blue insect took flight in search of any companions.


	2. Chapter 2: Super Digivolution Shine!

"Look, they're starting to wake up!" a female voice said. Akari opened her eyes to find another girl at her side, one she had never met before. The girl had short brown hair with a pink clip in one side. Around her neck was a yellow bandanna coupled with a digital camera on a lanyard.

"Where am I?" Akari asked as she slowly sat up.

"You're in a cave, in the digital world," said the girl. "We saved you and your friends from being attacked."

Akari turned her head and found Nene and Zenjiro regaining consciousnesses.

The girl reached her hand out to Akari. "My name's Kari, and this is my partner, Gatomon." Gatomon gave a wave and smiled. Kari then looked over at two other boys with her. One had blonde hair, with a green shirt and white hat, the other whore an orange vest and had navy blue hair. "These are my fiends, T.K. and Henry, and their partners, Patamon and Terriermon."

"My name's Akari, and this is Nene, and Zenjiro. We came to help save the digital world."

"Us too," said T.K. "it turns out that our digital world has collided with some others."

"What do you mean your world collided with others!" exclaimed Zenjiro.

"Wait, so that must mean you guys must be linked to the others to help us in the battle with Quartzmon all those years ago!" Nene pointed out." The other three nodded.

"At the moment we dont know what's caused this." Henry pointed out.

Suddenly, a loud rumble shook the cave. Zenjiro screamed and hid behind Akari. "What was that?!"

"That's the reason we're in this cave!" T.K. answered. "When we found you guys out cold, a SkullMammothmon was headed your way so we took shelter in this cave!"

"But now it looks like the big old bonehead's gunna try and make a cave in!" Terriermon added.

Zenjiro screamed again "What are we gunna do?! We're doomed!"

"Oh momentai already!" Terriermon barked.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Zenjiro questioned. Before an answer could be given however, SkullMammothmon shook the cave again.

"That's it! We have to evacuate now!" Nene decided.

"Terriermon and I will hold off SkullMammothmon while the rest of you escape." Henry said, and with that, he and his partner made a run for the exit. A huge flash of light blinded everyone as they looked on and suddenly the two were gone.

"Where did he go?!" Asked Zenjiro

"Now's your chance everyone! Get out now!" Henry's voice called from outside. T.K. lead the others outside to find an amazing sight. MegaGargomon had SkullMammothmon by the tusks, preventing the skeletal pachyderm from moving. Unfortunately, this SkullMammothmon wasn't alone. Two more appeared from either side of the mountain, cornering the kids and their partners.

T.K. and Kari pulled out their digivices and their partners leapt into action.

"Patamon Digivolve to...Angemon!"

"Gatomon Digivolve to...Angewomon!"

Angemon and Angewomon each flew to a SkullMammothmon and began their attacks.

"Hand of Fate!" Angemon cried out as a golden blast of energy burst from his fist, impacting with the enemy.

"Celestial Arrow!" Angewomon called, shooting a glowing arrow of light at her opponent. Both attacks did very minor damage and the SkullMammothmons swatted the angels away with their trunks.

"We have to help!" Nene ordered "Mervamon! Sparrowmon! DigiX  
ros!"  
Mervamon and Sparrowmon reloaded from Nene's Xros Loader and combined into JetMervamon, who then proceeded to attack one of the SkullMammothmons alongside Angewomon.

Akari and Zenjiro reloaded their partners, Dorulumon and Ballistamon. Ballistamon used his Heavy Speaker to knock one SkullMammothmon off balance. Dorulumon then followed up by attacking with his drills, but even they weren't strong enough to penetrate the bones of the mammoth.

Meanwhile, MegaGargomon continued to hold back the first SkullMammothmon.

"Come on Henry! We can take these jerks! Let's just hit them with our missiles!" Terriermon said

"We can't risk hitting the others Terriermon, they're too close for us to unleash our attacks!"

"Oh great! What are we supposed to do? Just stand here and watch as these big horned boneheads beat up our friends?!"  
JetMervamon was suddenly shot down, and on impact with the ground, separated into Mervamon and Sparrowmon.

"Sparrowmon! Mervamon!" Nene cried as she ran towards her partners.

"I'm ok." Sparrowmon said as she arose from the ground. Mervamon on the other hand was out cold. Cutemon then arrived at Nene's side and began to try and heal the Digimon.  
Just then, Angemon and Angewomon had been swatted into the mountain, and on impact, reverted to their default forms. T.K. and Kari caught their partners as they fell to the ground. Then, the final SkullMammothmon succeeded in knocking down and trampling MegaGargomon, causing him to split back into Henry and Terreirmon.

"What do we do?!" Zenjiro cried. "We cant take on these guys! Theirs no way we're strong enough!"

"We can't lose hope Zenjiro!" Akari snapped. "We can not give up! Taiki wouldn't and neither should we!"

"Akari's right." Nene added. "We're in this together and we're going to keep fighting no matter what!" Suddenly her Xros Loader began to glow.

"What's happening?"

Akari and Zenjiro looked at their Xros Loaders, which had also began to glow in the same manner.

"This light, it's the same light Taiki's Xros Loader shines when Shoutmon Digivolves!" Akari said in awe.

"You don't think..." Nene began to say.  
"What are we waiting for?!" Zenjiro yelled "Ballistamon! Super Digivolve!"

Ballistamon's body glowed in a golden light. He received much more pronounced armour, as well as a large golden beetle atop his back.

"Super Digivolve! AtlurBallistamon!"

Akari held her Xros Loader up to the sky. "Dorulumon! Super Digivolve!"

Dorulumon's body glowed in the same golden light. He received golden body armor, a large golden claw on his left arm, a drill staff in his left, and a red cape on his back.

"Super Digivolve! JaegerDorulumon!"

Finally, Nene held up her Xros Loader. "Sparrowmon! Super Digivolve!"

Sparrowmon was engulfed in the golden light. Her wings became more bird-like, and her arms were replaced by huge razor sharp claws.

"Super Digivolve! RaptorSparrowmon!"

The three new Digimon leapt into battle. AtlurBallistamon flew in and knocked one Skullmammothmon on its back. JeagerDorulumon then jumped in and impaled it with his drill. RaptorSparrowmon sliced right through the second's tusk like butter, then proceeded to dive bomb it and slice a large hole down its middle killing it instantly.

JeagerDorulumon jumped up and threw his drill spear through the skull of the second SkullMammothmon, killing that one as well. Finally AtlurBallistamon flew in and used an electric punch to crack the skull of the final SkullMammothmon, and as a result, causing it's death.

"We won!" Zenjiro cheered as he ran over to his partner. Indeed the three newly Digivolved Digimon had saved the day. With the aid of Cutemon, everyone who had been injured was now healed. Patamon and Gatomon Armor Digivolved to Pegasusmon and Nefertimon, and all together, everyone set off to find their friends.


	3. Chapter 3: The painful truth?

"You think he'll be ok?"

Tagiru heard a voice unfamiliar to him. The boy opened his eyes and was blinded by the sunlight. As his eyesight began to return, he found two boys at his side, as well as his partner, Gumdramon.

"Tagiru! Are you ok?" Gumdramon asked.

Tagiru sat up and cracked his neck. "I'll be ok."

"Tagiru," said one of the boys. He was wearing a pair of yellow goggles around his head of light brown hair. The boy also had a blue hooded sweatshirt and grey pants. "Do you remember me? I'm Takato."

"Takato." Tagiru repeated, searching his mind. "Oh! Takato! You're one of the legendary heroes!"

Takato smiled and nodded. Tagiru then glanced over at the other boy, the one who he had heard speak just a minute ago. He also had brown hair but it was mostly covered with an orange cap. The boy whore a white shirt with long dark-green sleeves, and a pair of sand-colored shorts. "You probably don't recognise me since I was a polar bear last time I saw you, but my name's Tommy!" The younger boy smiled as he introduced himself. Tagiru gave him a confused look but decided not to question the kid. Tagiru then turned his head from left to right, and observed his surroundings. He was in a valley of dirt and dead grass. The sky was a very bright shade of grey with small bits of data floating in the air.

"This isn't how I expected the digital world to look like." Tagiru said.

"This isn't how it's supposed to look Tagiru." Gumdramon pointed out. "Something bad must have happened to cause all this."

"Wait, you guys are from different worlds right? How did you get here?" Asked Tagiru.

"Well I got a message saying the digital world was in danger," Tommy began. "So my friends and I boarded a Trailmon and made our way here, but just before we arrived we got caught in some kind of storm and we were all separated."

"My friends and I also got a distress call," said Takato "We used the portal to the digital world in the park but, like with Tommy and his friends, we were caught in a storm too and got separated. I think what might have happened is that our different digital worlds probably merged together, which is why we're all here."

Tagiru got to his feet, and the three boys set off, deciding to try and reunite with their friends.

"I sure wish their was a Trailmon around." Tommy said "It was so easy for us to get around the digital world thanks to them."

"At least you guys knew where you were going." Takato added. "In our digital world, all we had were data streams that send you to random places. What about you Tagiru? How did you and your friends get around the digital world?"

"Actually, this is my first time in the digital world, but Taiki said he used to get around by going through portals!"

Suddenly a large bird Digimon swooped down, throwing the boy's and their partners to the ground.

"What the hack was that?!" Tagiru yelled.

"That's Parrotmon!" Takato explained. "He's a giant bird Digimon, Champion level. He has razor sharp claws and can use electric attacks!"

Parrotmon swooped down again and dove right for the boys.

"Guilmon!" Takato cried.

"Pyro sphere!" Guilmon called and shot a flaming orb out his mouth at Parrotmon, throwing it off slightly.

Takato then pulled out a blue card from his back pocket, as well as his Digivice. He then took the card and swiped it through a slot in his D-Power. "Digimodify! Matrix Digivolution activate!" Takato shouted.

Guilmon began to glow and suddenly Guilmon began to digivolve. "Guilmon Matrix Digivolve to...WarGrowlmon!"

Tommy then pulled out his digivice from his pocket and a ring of data manifested around his hand. "Execute! Spirit Evolution! Kumamon!" Tommy himself had transformed into a little polar bear with armour and a large gun. "Blizzard Blaster!" Kumamon cried as a barrage of snowballs shot from his gun and impacted with Parrotmon's forehead. WarGrowlmon flew up in the sky and took Parrotmon head on and slashed him with his arm blades.  
Tagiru then pulled out his Xros Loader and readied himself for battle, but suddenly, a cloud of darkness formed around him, and soon, everything was black.

Tagiru found himself in a dark room. It seemed to have no doors, windows or anything for that matter, other than pure darkness. "Gumdramon!" Tagiru called out, but there was no answer. Gumdramon! Where are you?!" the boy cried again, but still, no answer.

"Where am I?" the gogglehead thought to himself.

"You are in my realm, Akashi Tagiru," said a dark mysterious voice.

Tagiru whipped his head around, attempting to locate this strange, unfamiliar voice. "Who are you?! Show yourself you coward!"

The voice laughed. "That's just like you Tagiru. Always wanting to rush into a fight, never caring who your opponent is. Why is that do you think?"

"well, uh…" Tagiru was caught off guard by this. Whoever was talking to him seemed to know him very well, but the voice was unrecognizable to Tagiru.

"Could it be because you are trying to prove yourself?" said the voice "To surpass an elder perhaps?"

"SHUT UP!" Yelled Tagiru.

"Ah, but that's it, isn't it? Everyone knows you want more than anything to surpass the Red General, Kudou Taiki. But why? Why do you feel you need to be better than him?

"I said shut up! For your information, I've already surpassed Taiki! I surpassed him when Gumdramon and I defeated Quartzmon!" Tagiru said with confidence.

"HA! You really believe that don't you?"

"What are you saying?" Tagiru grew uneasy.

"It's simple, Taiki has everything you desire most. Power, glory, and friends."

Tagiru fell to his knees. This voice somehow knew what he had always felt.

"What's wrong?" asked the voice. "Did I hit the nail on the head? Face it Tagiru, you have no real friends. Taiki and Yuu, they aren't your friends. Why do you think they're always going off together without you?"

"Because they're boyfriends!" said Tagiru, trying to justify what had been said.

"Of course they are, but even before then, they would ditch you, leave you by yourself, and you know exactly why that is."

Tagiru's heart began to race; he knew what was coming.

"They hate you Tagiru. Everyone does. You think you're so perfect, that you need the spotlight on you all of the time. You think that if you have this glory people will love you. And why not? It worked for Taiki didn't it?"

"Shut up." Tagiru whispered.

"You're jealous of him. He has everything you want, why wouldn't you be? He has him after all."

"Shut up!" Tagiru said again, this time holding back tears.

"That's right Tagiru. That's the reason for wanting to be better than Taiki. It's all an effort to win him over is it not?"

This time Tagiru couldn't speak. It took all the boy's strength to keep the tears back.

"But you know that he has always hated you. Ever sense you met him, he's hated you."

Tagiru had failed to keep he tears back any longer. "JUST SHUT UP AND LEAVE ME ALONE!" Tagiru cried.

"But even though he hates you, you can't help but love him. But it will never be, you know. You attempted to surpass Taiki to win over the one he stole from you!"

"PLEASE JUST STOP!" Tagiru cried once more.

"But the sad truth is, that Yuu will always love Taiki, and never love you. Nobody will love you. Nobody can love you. You're very existence has no point, no worth. You are a waste and you know it! Those goggles mean nothing! You are no hero, only a wannabe, a coward! A pathetic child who will never get the boy he loves to love him back!"

"LEAVE ME ALONE! PLEASE JUST LEAVE ME ALONE!" Tagiru shouted hysterically. The boy opened his misty eyes, still full of tears, only to find himself back in the digital world.

"Tagiru!" another voice cried.

Tagiru recognized this voice, it was Gumdramon.

"Tagiru what happened?!" Gumdramon asked "Why are you crying?"

Tagiru stared at the ground, continuing to sob.

"Tagiru?" Gumdramon asked.

"I'm worthless." Tagiru said "I've been denying it this entire time. No one wants me around, and I've been too deluded to notice. I don't deserve these goggles." With that, Tagiru removed the green goggles Taiki had given him and threw them off into the grass. "I should just die."


	4. Chapter 4: A foe arrives

Takato turned his head and found Tagiru sobbing on the ground, Gumdramon at his side. Without warning, WarGrowlmon was slammed into the ground, the loud crash distracting Takato from Tagiru.

"WarGrowlmon!" Takato cried as he ran towards his partner.

"I'm ok Takatomon." said WarGrowlmon as he got back up on his feet.

"This is one tough bird!" said Kumamon as he continued to fire his Blizzard Blaster.

"It has to be the high levels of data in the air!" Takato pointed out. "Parrotmon's absorbed so much of it that he's abnormally strong!"

"Then we'll just have to overpower him!" Kumamon declared and he put his blaster away on his back. The little bear rushed forward and jumped into the air. "Slide Evolution!" He cried and suddenly long strips of data swarmed around his body, forming a shell around him. The data strips then dispersed revealing a much larger, much stronger looking beast with an axe in each hand. "Korikakumon!" He shouted and threw his axes at the bird, hitting both it's wings and sending it plummeting to the ground.

"WarGrowlmon, now!" Takato ordered. WarGrowlmon charged up the twin cannons on his chest and blasted Parrotmon.

"Atomic Blaster!"

The Parrotmon was weak, but managed to recover from the last attack enough to take flight once more, but not for long as it was then hit with an electrical burst.

"Electro Shocker!"

Takato and Korikakumon whipped their heads toward the direction of the attacker. Kabuterimon had arrived carrying with him, Izzy, and the other 8 kids and Digimon with him. Parrotmon, having realised it had been outnumbered retreated and flew off far into the sky. Kabuterimon landed and dropped everyone off on the Ground before reverting back into Tentomon. Korikakumon and WarGrowlmon too reverted back to their default forms.

"It figures I'd find you this easy gogglehead." Rika sighed as she approached Takato and Guilmon.

"Nice to see you too Rika." Takato said.

"Takato!" Yuu said cheerfully as he ran to the boy's side. "It's great to see you again!"

"He's still thankful to you for catching me after I was attacked." Taiki pointed out. Takato smiled and returned the hug Yuu had been giving him.

"Well, thanks!" said Takato with a smile.

"And he still hasn't forgiven Ryouma for attacking us either." Shoutmon interjected.

"Yep." Taiki agreed. "Despite numerous apologies from him too."

"Hey guys, i hate to break up the love fest, be we've got a problem!" Said Rika. The boys looked over at everyone else, wondering what could be wrong.

"We can't find Tagiru or Gumdramon." Tommy said, concerned.

"Tagiru was with you?" Taiki asked.

"Yeah, but then we were attacked by Parrotmon. I didn't notice his Digimon in the fight at all." Tommy added.

"You guys, we have to find him now!" Takato said, with desperation in his voice. Everyone looked on to the boy with concern. "During the fight I noticed Tagiru freeze, as if he were having some sort of out of body experience or something. When he came out of it, he fell to the ground and started crying. Then he said..." Takato took a breath before he finished. It was difficult for him to get the words out. "He said that he 'should just die.'"

Everyone fell silent. Nobody knew exactly what to say. Taiki however, remained calm and gave the order. "Alright, we have to find him. We split into three teams. Tai and Izzy head west on Kabuterimon. Takato and Rika will travel south on Kyubimon. Yuu, Tommy and I will head north. He couldn't have gotten far. We all meet back at this spot in 30 minutes." Everyone nodded and went their separate ways. Tommy Beast Spirit Evolved back into Korikakumon, and Taiki and Yuu loaded on his back in search of their friend.

"Hang on! Stop!" Yuu cried and he jumped off Korikakumon's back. Yuu had found Taiki's old goggles in the grass. The same goggled he had given to Tagiru. Yuu climbed back atop Korikakumon and handed the goggles to Taiki, who put the goggles on around his neck for safe keeping.

OOO

Tagiru sat at the edge of a large hillside overlooking the barren wasteland that this new digital world had become. He sat with his legs dangling off the ledge, and he looked down at the land far below him while Gumdramon sat at his side.

"He was right." Tagiru spoke, almost in a whisper. "Everyone does hate me."

"That's not true Tagiru!" Gumdramon yelled. "You can't listen to whatever that voice said! He was just trying to get to you! To make us weak!"

"How can I not listen to him Gumdramon! Everything he said was true! There isn't one other person who cares about me."

"I care about you." Gumdramon said, putting a hand on Tagiru's. "This is about Yuu, isn't it?" The boy's lip quivered as he attempted to hold back the oncoming tears.

"He hates me." Tagiru spoke, his voice shaking. "No matter what I do he hates me. I've accepted that I can't ever be with him, but knowing that he hates me just kills me."

"Tagiru..." said Gumdramon softly, trying to comfort his partner.

"This world would be a whole lot better without me!" Tagiru cried. The boy carefully got to his feet and looked down once more at the ground that was so far away.

"I wouldn't jump if I were you. It's a long way down."

Tagiru was startled by this new unfamiliar voice. He whipped his head around to find another boy standing about 10 feet away from him. This boy had ghost white hair, pale skin and red eyes. He was slightly taller than Tagiru but looked about the same age. He wore all black clothes, and his jacket had strange markings etched into it.

"Who are you?!" Tagiru demanded, using his sleeve to wipe away his tears.

The boy gave an evil smile. "My name is Dokuro, and I know a lot about you, Tagiru Akashi."

Tagiru paused. He had never seen this other boy before in his life. Nothing about him seemed familiar at all.

"How do you know me?!" Tagiru inquired.

"Let's just say, I've done my research. I know that my servant said some awful things to you earlier."

"Your servant?" Tagiru questioned again.

"Yes. That voice works for me. He told me everything about you Tagiru. How you constantly try to surpass Taiki Kudou. How everyone hates you."

Tagiru glanced down at his feet. He was in no mood to be reminded of all the things making him miserable.

"What if I told you, you could have your revenge on everyone who has shunned you?" Dokuro said.

"What do you mean?" Tagiru was suddenly intrigued.

"Just join with me and we can destroy all those who despise you. Wouldn't it be nice to finally surpass Taiki in the best way possible? By destroying him?"

Tagiru hesitated a bit, but soon, a grin crept up his face. "Yeah." said Tagiru devilishly. "Yeah that would be nice."

"Tagiru, you can't be serious!" Gumdramon panicked. "You can't trust this guy! He's evil! He's just using you!"

"Quiet Gumdramon!" Tagiru snapped. "Get in the Xros Loader. We're going with him!"

Gumdramon was shocked. He could hardly believe that his partner had been turned so easily. But even so, Gumdramon obeyed and returned inside Tagiru's Xros Loader.

"So we have a deal then?" asked Dokuro.

Tagiru nodded in approval and Dokuro smiled and opened up a dark portal.

"Follow me then." He said as he stepped through. Tagiru took a step towards the portal but stopped when he saw something approaching out of the corner of his eye.

"Tagiru!" shouted Yuu, off in the distance. He and Taiki were atop Korikakumon and were headed in the boy's direction. Tagiru glared at Yuu and slowly stepped through the portal before it vanished.

Yuu ran over to where the portal once was and fell to his knees. Taiki ran to his boyfriend's side and joined him on the ground.  
"He saw me Taiki." Yuu said with concern. "He starred daggers at me and then he went through. Why?" Taiki Wrapped his arm around his boyfriend and the two just sat there trying to take in the situation.

OOO

Tagiru found himself inside a cold, dark room. His steps echoed as he walked towards Dokuro, who was sitting on an old, weathered throne. The only source of light were several candles mounted along the walls, but it was enough for Tagiru to realise he was inside some sort of castle.

"So, why do you want my help?" Tagiru asked as he walked closer towards Dokuro. The other boy grinned. "I want your power Tagiru. After all, you were strong enough to take down Quartzmon by yourself, weren't you?"

"Well, yeah, but I had help. My friends gave me the power I needed to win."

"No, Tagiru. Can you not see? These 'friends' of yours were only holding you back. Your real potential shined through once they were all gone. And good riddance I say. You're better off without them. That's why I want you to take them out."

"I just have one question." Tagiru said determined. "Just what happened to the digital world? Did you do all of this?"

Dokuro stood from his throne and walked over towards a cage in the corner of the room. "It wasn't I. It was him." A small Digimon came into the dim light, and Tagiru recognised it instantly.

"Clockmon!" Tagiru exclaimed Clockmon looked very disheveled. Clearly Dokuro had taken him from the old man against his will.

"You see, I loaded this Clockmon with as much data as I could possibly fit and forced it to open up dimensional portals to the worlds containing the legendary heroes. Then I simply used my own power to cause the digital worlds to collide and the result was the wasteland we are in now. Soon the human worlds will collide as well, but they wont take the fusion as well as the digital worlds did. In other words, the human worlds shall be destroyed."

Tagiru was shocked, but he maintained his cool. "So you would rule over one gigantic digital world once Taiki and the others are killed?" asked Tagiru. Dokuro nodded and gave an evil grin.

"When can we start?" asked Tagiru.

"Soon Tagiru, soon. There is some business i must see to first."

"What kind of business?"

"There's a certain beast I must unleash. With any luck, my servant should be encountering Taiki and the others at any moment now, and unleash the Hell's Dragon."

"What's Hell's Dragon?" Tagiru questioned, puzzled as to what Dokuro could possibly be talking about.

Dokuro turned to Tagiru and smiled as he spoke the name of the dragon. "Megidramon."


	5. Chapter 5: The bonds of a king!

The sun had began to set as Taiki, Yuu, and Tommy headed back to meet up with the others.

"I don't get it," Yuu said, confused and concerned. "I know Tagiru saw us coming, why would he leave like that?"

"It's possible he just needs some time alone," Taiki added, not really believing his own words.

"I just don't like that look he gave me. It was as if he wanted to kill me or something. And you know what else I don't like? That portal he entered."

Taiki nodded. He didn't like the looks of that portal either. He had only caught a short glimpse of the portal but it seemed very evil and unsettling.

Taiki put his hand around Yuu's shoulder and pulled him in close.  
"It's gonna be ok Yuu. We're gonna find him, and save our worlds."

Yuu gave Taiki a smile and leaned his head against his shoulder. The boys arrived at their destination to find the others waiting for them. Korikakumon let Taiki and Yuu down and reverted back to Tommy, and the three boys reunited with everyone.

"Any luck?" Tai asked, anticipating a "no" from the three.

"We found him but.." Taiki said. "He left through a portal once he saw us. Clearly he doesn't want to be around any of us. But I say we continue to find our friends and find a way to fix this whole mess."

Everyone nodded in agreement. Tentomon Digivolved into Kabuterimon once more and everyone loaded onto the giant blue insect and took off.

After a few minutes Yuu spotted someone familiar on the ground, but he wasn't moving. "Taiki! Look!" Yuu shouted. Taiki spotted what Yuu had been pointing at and told Izzy to have Kabuterimon land. Once Kabuterimon was safely on the ground, Taiki and Yuu jumped off quickly and rushed to the side of their friend.

"Wisemon!" Taiki called. Both boys helped the Digimon up to his feet and lead him over to a nearby rock formation for him to sit.

"T-Taiki. You've arrived. At long last. I was beginning to believe you would never make it!"

"Wisemon, what do you mean?" Taiki asked. "We only received your distress call two hours ago."

Wisemon looked down and shook his head. "No Taiki, for us in the Digital World, it's been over four months since the devastating collision of the worlds."

The hooded Digimon took a breath and began to explain exactly what had happened.

"Four months ago, out of nowhere, a huge storm engulfed the entire Digital World. The ground shook and lightning struck all around. And in an instant, the storm ended and all that was left was a barren wasteland. I analyzed the data around me and discovered that our Digital World had fused with four others, forming one single world. Their was much chaos that followed. All the Digimon were left confused and scared; nobody could trust anyone and soon, fighting broke out between all of the Digimon. Then a human boy named Dokuro appeared. He proclaimed he could bring peace to the world, and managed to recruit thousands of Digimon to his side. However Dokuro wasn't the peacemaker he proclaimed to be, for all those Digimon who opposed him died. Soon, Digimon like myself were hunted down, and we were forced to go into hiding. Dokuro has successfully recruited some of the most evil Digimon to do his biding, and I fear he is the real cause of the collision of worlds."

"So we need to find this Dokuro and stop him then?" Rika asked. "Sounds good to me."

"Wisemon, do you know where we can find Dokuro?" Taiki asked with urgency.

Wisemon shook his head. "I'm sorry to say that I don't. All I know is that he resides in a heavily guarded castle."

"Izzy, you don't think you could use your computer to try and figure out where that castle is do you?" Tai asked with little faith.

"I suppose I could give it a shot, but I doubt it." Izzy replied, taking out his yellow laptop. Izzy began typing away at the keys, attempting to bring up any information. The sun had now set on the Digital World and the others decided it would be best to make camp. Takato, Guilmon, Tommy, and Tai gathered some scraps of wood and dead grass, and arranged them all in a neat pile.

"Pepper Breath!" Agumon cried as he lit the pile on fire.

"Prodigious!" Izzy exclaimed, drawing everyone's attention towards him.

"What is it Izzy? Did you find the castle?" asked Tai as he excitedly ran towards the other boy.

"No, but I do have good news!" Izzy said with a smile. He turned his computer around for everyone to see. "This is a map of the Digital World right now. Now see all these red dots?" Everyone nodded. "Well these dots each represent a Digivice signal, so while we may not be able to find the castle, we'll be able to find our friends!"

"Izzy, you're a genius!" Tai said with glee.

"From the looks of it there's a lot of us here." Takato said.

"About 29 others." Izzy replied "but there's no way of telling who each red dot represents unfortunately."

"So i suppose finding Tagiru won't be so easy." Said Taiki.

"Hang on!" Yuu interjected. The blonde pointed at a lone dot in the northern region of the map. "All of the other signals are in groups of three or more, except for this one in the north."

"What are you saying Yuu?" Asked Takato.

"It's possible this could be Tagiru, after all he did go off by himself." Yuu answered. It seemed logical to everyone.

"Alright then." Said Taiki. "It's worth a shot. At dawn, we head north."

OOO

"Who's Megidramon?" Asked Tagiru.

Dukuro smiled and began to explain. "Several years ago, the legendary hero, Takato Matsuki forced his partner to Digivolve to Megidramon. The dragon's power was so great, it had the potential to destroy the Digital World itself. You see, I have a theory. Takato created his partner Digimon from his own imagination, therefore they share a bond stronger than any other. Because of this, Megidramon's power is only limited by Takato's own imagination. The boy holds a special power within him. The power of a god. Imagine having that kind of power at our side, we would be unstoppable Tagiru!"

"So your servant's gonna convince him to join us? Tagiru asked

"But of course!" Dokuro answered. "In fact, he should be arriving to his location right about now."

OOO

Taiki watched the fire crackle and burn in the darkness. Everyone had managed to fall asleep aside from himself and Shoutmon who were standing guard.

"Seems like old times, doesn't it?" asked Shoutmon with a slight smile. Taiki grinned and nodded his head.

"It sure does. Only this time the stakes are much higher."

"I'll be dipped if I let my kingdom fall any more than it already has! I'll hunt down that Dokuro and bash his skull in for what he did to our Digital World!"

Taiki smiled at his partner's enthusiasm. "We'll take him down together, just like the Bagura army."

"Oh will you now?" said a booming voice. Taiki and Shoutmon bolted up and focused their attention towards the sky. A large demonic Digimon manifested above them. He carried a large staff in his right hand, had a long pointed nose, and a long white beard. He was surrounded by swarms of the cycloptic Digimon, Ghoulmon.

"Just who are you?!" Shoutmon demanded.

The evil Digimon snickered and waved his staff. "My name is Barbamon! And i will be the one to send you all to hell!" Barbamon lifted his staff to the sky and summoned lightning strikes to attack everyone on the ground. Everyone was now fully awake and ready for battle. Barbamon commanded his troops to attack, and the Ghoulmon obeyed their master.

"Agumon!" Tai cried. "Digivolve now!"

"Agumon Warp Digivolve to...WarGreymon!"

Izzy too took out his Digivice and aimed it at his partner. "Go for it Tentomon!"

"Tentomon Digivolve to...Kabuterimon! Kabuterimon Digivolve to...MegaKabuterimon!"

"Guilmon, you ready boy?!" yelled Takato.

"Ready Takatomon!"

Takato's D-Power began to glow and emit a golden light. Takato held it up to the sky and called out "Biomerge Activate!" In a flash of Light Takato and Guilmon merged into one. "Guilmon Biomege to...Gallantmon!"

"Let's go Renamon!" Rika called following Takato's lead. She held her D-Power high in the air and cried out "Biomerge Activate!" And her and Renamon also fused together. "Renamon Biomerge to...Sakuyamon!"

Tommy held out his left hand an a ball of data formed around his fingers. The boy took his D-Tector and scanned the data. "Execute! Beast Spirit Evolution!" Tommy let out an ear-shattering scream as plates of armour formed around his body. "Korikakumon!"

Yuu held his Xros Loader out in front of him and aimed it at Damemon. "Damemon! Super Digivolve!" Yuu called out.

"Super Digivolve! Tsuwamon!"

Finally, Taiki held his red Xros Loader up high in the air. "Shoutmon! Super Digivolve!"

"Super Digivolve! OmegaShoutmon!"

A fleet of Ghoumons swarmed around MegaKabuterimon, but the red insect's horn buster attack was too much for them. The electricity sent the little demons flying off in random directions. Gallantmon coupled MegaKabuterimon's electricity with his Lightning Joust attack, causing another bunch of Ghoulmons to fall out of the sky. Korikakumon threw his axes into the air and sliced through several Ghoulmons while he used his Frozen Arrowheads to impale eight others close to himself. Tsuwamon used his Mantis Dance to slice through a group that was headed towards Yuu, then proceeded to take out several more in the sky. Sakuyamon beat down several others with her staff, then used a purification spell to turn them to dust. WarGreymon and OmegaShoutmon flew directly towards Barbamon and attacked together, but Barbamon proved to be too powerful. OmegaShoutmon's attacks did little to no damage, and WarGreymon's claws were unable to cut through the demon lord's staff. Barbamon then lifted his weapon above his head and struck OmegaShoutmon with it, sending the Digimon king hurtling towards the ground. WarGreymon attempted to race down to catch him but Barbamon was too quick. He struck WarGreymon with a dark attack and sent him crashing down while OmegaShoutmon landed hard, creating a crater in the ground.

"OmegaShoutmon!" Taiki cried as he ran towards the crater to find his partner, reverted back to his default form, barely conscious.

Barbamon the summoned his lightning once more. This time with much more devastating power. Each lightning bolt hit one of the fighting Digimon, severely injuring them all and causing them to revert back to their respective default forms.

"Have you given up yet humans? Have you realized that all hope has been lost yet?" Barbamon called out.

"Heh. You've gotta be kidding right?" Shoutmon spoke with a cocky smile. The little red dragon stood up slowly, trying his best to mask his pain. "If you think I'm gonna let you win so easily, you've got another thing coming you big-nosed creep!"

Barbamon laughed. "How bold of you!" he said. "And how stupid! You truly believe you can defeat me don't you?"

"You bet we can defeat you!" Taiki smiled. "We've taken on much tougher opponents than you! You wish you could even come close to them!"

Barbamon sneered. His rage grew as he realised his words had no effect on the two.

"We're never gonna give up!" Taiki shouted. "No matter what you throw at us we'll just keep coming back stronger than ever!"

"Taiki's right!" Shoutmon added. "we've never backed down from a fight and we're not backing down to you either!"

"Shoutmon and I are a team! Nothing's going to tear us apart, and nothing is going to stop us from saving our home!"

Suddenly, Taiki's Xros Loader emitted a golden light, a light that shined even brighter than that of a Super Digivolve. Shoutmon's body then started to glow, and to Taiki's surprise, so did his! Taiki was puzzled for a second, but soon realised what was happening. A new power had been unlocked by his and Shoutmon's determination. Taiki held his Xros Loader high up in the air, and the golden light engulfed the two.

"Shoutmon!" Taiki cried out "BIO-XROS!"

In an explostion of light, Shoutmon's body was turned into multiple orbs of pure energy and shot straight for Taiki, and began to quickly circle the boy. Taiki's clothes were ripped from his body, and the orbs of light that were once Shoutmon formed armour around him. Finally, one final orb impacted with Taiki's head forming a helmet.

"BioShoutmon!"

The light dissipated, to reveal a brand new Digimon. He heavily resembled OmegaShoutmon but with several key differences. BioShoutmon wore red armour, his shoulders adorned with the same sound frequency design featured on Taiki's wristbands and had a long golden scarf around his neck. He also featured Shoutmon's large red V crest on the front of his helmet and Taiki's exposed face only with Shoutmon's markings.

"Barbamon!" BioShoutmon called. His voice a blend of Taiki and Shoutmon's. "We've had about enough of you!" BioShoutmon leapt into the air and headed straight for Barbamon. The demon lord fired blasts of dark energy at BioShoutmon, but not one seemed to do any damage, and the new Digimon continued to head straight for Barbamon.

Everyone looked on in amazement as BioShoutmon let loose his Burning Metal Soul attack, causing Barbamon much damage. Barbamon then conjured up another sphere of dark energy and sent it flying toward BioShoutmon.

"Taiki watch out!" Yuu cried. But BioShoutmon just gave a smile. "DigiXros!" He yelled. Instantly, Starmon and the Pickmons merged into the star sword and BioShoutmon sliced through the dark attack with ease. "Now for you!" He cried and he soared through the air. Before Barbamon had any time to react, BioShoutmon had impaled the Demon lord. Barbamon clutched his wound, and with the last of his power, escaped through a dark portal. BioShoutmon landed on the ground and stared off into the Sky, then glanced over at the others.

"You look stunning!" Yuu said with an excited smile.


	6. Chapter 6: The Red dragon rises!

"How dare you show your face to me without fulfilling your goal!" Dokuro screamed at Barbamon. The demon lord had retreated to Dokuro's castle to recover from the battle with BioShoutmon, much to its master's dismay.

"Please master! Forgive me! I was overpowered" Barbamon said as he prostrated himself before Dokuro.

Dokuro sneered. "I gave you one simple task. You were to plant the spell inside of the legendary hero known as Takato, and you failed!"

"Master! I beg you give me one last chance! I promise I will not fail you again!"

Dokuro glared down at Barbamon. "You had better not." He said coldly. "You are not to return here until Megidramon has awoken, is that understood?"

"Yes, Master! Thank you master!" Barbamon said. The demon lord then vanished into a cloud of darkness and made his way back to Takato and the others.

Tagiru had watched the whole thing from a corner. Something about Barbamon seemed familiar.

"Looks like your servant wasn't as good as you thought." Tagiru remarked.

"No." Dokuro responded. "The real issue at hand is that I've underestimated The power of Taiki Kudou and Shoutmon. But no matter. Once Barbamon unleashes Megidramon, BioShoutmon won't stand a chance."

Dokuro then made his way over to Tagiru. "You've probably realised by now that Barbamon's voice is somewhat familiar." Tagiru then realised where he had heard the voice before. "If he's good enough to bring you over to my side, then there is no doubt he'll be able to convince Takato as well."

OOO

After the battle with Barbamon, everyone had continued to get as much sleep as they could while it was still dark.

"You can go to sleep now Yuu." said Takato as he approached the blonde. Yuu had been keeping watch with Damemon by the fire for the past hour, now it was Takato and Guilmon's turn. Yuu stood up and yawned. "Thanks Takato." he said. "See you in the morning then." Yuu and Damemon then walked off towards the sleeping Taiki and Shoutmon. Yuu laid down next to his boyfriend, put an arm around him, and instantly fell asleep. Takato the took a seat on the ground and watched the fire crackle and burn. It had been one long day, and he and Guilmon were exhausted.

"Takatomon?" Guilmon whispered. "Did you bring any bread? I'm real hungry."

Takato shook his head and put his hand on his partner's back. "Sorry boy, i didn't have time to pack anything. We'll find some food in the morning."

After several minutes, Takato noticed the air has suddenly become much colder. At first he didn't think much of it, but then the fire suddenly went out. Takato and Guilmon were then engulfed in a cloud of pure darkness.

Takato found himself in a very dark and cold place, unlike anything he had ever seen before. A world made entirely of shadows. However, somehow he was able to see himself, as well as Guilmon by his side.

"Where are we Takatomon?" Guilmon asked.

"I don't know boy." answered Takato. "But i sure as heck don't like it. Not one bit." He then whipped his head around at the sound of a dark voice laughing.

"Welcome to the dark realm, boy!" said the voice. Takato instantly recognised who was speaking.

"Barbamon!" Takato yelled. "Show yourself!"

Barbamon then emerged from the shadows to greet the boy and his partner.

"What do you want with us Barbamon?!" Takato said, enraged.

Barbamon laughed again. "Takato Matsuki, so-called leader of the group of humans who call themselves Tamers."

Takato stood his ground as the demon lord slowly walked towards him. Guilmon then readied himself for battle if Barbamon were to attack.

"Correct me if I'm wrong," Barbamon spoke "but you're not like the other legendary heroes, are you?"

Takato was confused by this question. "What exactly do you mean by that?" he asked.

The tall demon lord stared down at Takato and smirked.

"What I mean is, you lack something. Something important. Something that prevented the others from total failure." Barbamon explained.

Takato grew uneasy, but continued to keep his calm. "What don't I have?"

Barbamon grinned even wider. "You lack impulsiveness!"

Takato took a step back. "So? Why is that such a bad thing?"

"It's bad because impulsiveness is what allowed the other legendary heroes to save the lives of their friends, as well as themselves."

Takato's heart raced. He knew what was coming.

"If only you could have acted sooner," Barbamon spoke, "Maybe Leomon would still be alive!" Takato fell weak as he began to replay the events of that day in his mind. Barbamon took a step forward, and laid into Takato even more. "And then perhaps Jeri wouldn't hate you so much!"

"That's a lie!" Takato yelled. "It wasn't my fault that Leomon died! Just because I didn't act quick enough, this is all somehow my fault?!"

"Well you did allow Jeri to come to the digital world, did you not? If you had insisted she stay behind, Leomon would never have been killed. You put that poor girl in harm's way."

"Shut up!" Takato barked. "I'm not gonna let you guilt trip me about things that weren't my fault! I didn't rest until I saved Jeri from the D-Reaper! Just because she-" He suddenly stopped.

"What's wrong?" Barbamon smiled. "Did yet another painful memory come up?"

Takato was silent. The boy struggled to hold back the tears that were about to burst from his eyes.

"Ah! I see now!" Barbamon said. "She rejected you, didn't she?" Takato gritted his teeth as he listened to Barbamon.

"Unrequited love seems to push you humans over the edge quite often, doesn't it?" Barbamon said again. "Face it Takato, Jeri will never love you. She'll always blame you for her partner's death. No matter what you do to try and make it better, it will never be enough. And it's not just her that blames you. Everyone blames you! You know quite well you're not cut out to be a leader."

"SHUT UP!" Takato screamed. "You think you can bully me into defeat? That's just pathetic!"

"I'm simply telling the truth!" Barbamon said "You can't deny that nobody takes you seriously as a leader!"

"That's enough!" Takato yelled the boy glared at Barbamon as he clutched his D-Power in his hand. Black flames emerged from the boy's body, and Guilmon began to scream with rage. "I'm sick of you and your voice! I'll make sure to shut you up. I'll make sure you never speak another word again!"

Takato's D-Power turned black, and Guilmon became swallowed inside a tornado of dark fire. Inside the flames, he screamed in pain as his body mutated and grew larger and larger. Gigantic dragon wings sprouted from his back, and swept away the flames.

Takato stood still as he spoke his last words to Barbamon. "Megidramon, Kill him!"

Megidramon lunged straight for Barbamon and plunged his claws through Barbamon's chest, and ripped a giant hole inside him. He let out a menacing roar and unleashed a storm of hellfire from his mouth at Barbamon. The demon lord screamed in pain as every last inch of him burned up in the fire.

"Well done Megidramon." Takato said as he gave a menacing smile. The boy's eyes now glowed bright red. Takato leaped onto Megidramon's back, and the giant dragon swept away the cloud of darkness, returning the two to the campsite, now at dawn.

The other's starred in horror at Megidramon's presence, but none more so than Rika.

"Takato." Rika said under her breath, in complete shock. "How?"

OOO

"Excellent!" Dukuro exclaimed as he watched Megidramon through a portal. "The plan went perfectly!"

"What do you mean?" Tagiru asked "You lost Barbamon!"

"Tagiru," Dukuro smiled. "I have many other subjects at my disposal. The loss of one will hardly affect my chances of victory."

"So when do I get to join in on the action then?" Tagiru said impatiently. "I'm sick of just sitting around here doing nothing!"

"Trust me Tagiru, you'll have plenty to do when the time comes. I'm counting on Taiki and his little friends to arrive here eventually. And when they do, it will be your job to kill them."

"Not if Megidramon does it first!" Tagiru pointed out.

"Taiki Kudou is strong. Megidramon will most certainly kill several of the humans, but Taiki will find a way to survive."

"How exactly do you know that?" Tagiru asked.

Dokuro smiled "I'm just sure of it. In the meantime, Megidramon will terminate the weakest of our enemies, leaving the strongest for us. And once the strongest are gathered, we shall unleash the second beast."

"And who's this second beast then?" Tagiru inquired.

"Why Milleniumon of course!" Dokuro replied. "You see Tagiru, I've gathered all the components to form him. All I need is the data of a certain individual, and of course a Xros Loader. That's where you come in."

"So you need me to DigiXros all the components?" asked Tagiru.

"Precisely!" exclaimed Dokuro.

"So who's this certain individual?" Tagiru questioned.

"In due time, Tagiru. For now, let us watch the destruction Megidramon will bring about." Dokuro tuned his attention back to the portal and watched as Megidramon engaged Taiki and the others.


	7. Chapter 7: Village of survivors

Megidramon stared down at his former friends as rage filled his body. Rika cautiously stepped forward towards Takato and the infernal dragon, doing her best to keep calm. "Rika, be careful." Renamon warned as she took another step forward.

"Takato." Rika said softly. "We're your friends remember?"

Takato was silent. The boy gazed into Rika's eyes and spoke coldly. "Don't patronize me."

Rika froze. She had never heard Takato talk this way before. "Takato whatever's wrong we can help you!" Rika cried as she came closer. "You have to snap out of it Takato! We're your friends! I know you don't want to hurt us!"

Takato dropped his head down and a huge unsettling grin formed across his face as he began to snicker. "You have no idea what I want!" Takato yelled out. Suddenly, a flash of energy hit Megidramon across the face.

"Justice Burst!" cried a new voice.

Takato whipped his head around to find a familiar figure in the sky. It was Justimon, and he was accompanied by Aldamon, Zephyrmon, and Astamon, who carried Ryouma with him. Megidramon took off into the sky and flew off into the distance.

"He's leaving?" Taiki asked. "I wonder why."

Justimon, Aldamon, Zephyrmon, and Astamon landed on the charred ground, de-digivolved and greeted the team.

"Probably because he doesn't want to fight his friends." Ryo oointed out. "I'm Ryo by the way." He put his hand out before Taiki, who gladly shook it.

"Takuya! Zoe!" Tommy called gleefully as he reverted to his human form and greeted his friends.

Yuu then approached Ryouma with his arms crossed. "Well, well. If it isn't Brutus himself!"

Ryouma frowned at the blonde. "Yuu, I said I was sorry for stabbing Taiki. You have to forgive me at some point!"

Yuu turned away from the grey haired boy. "Sorry's not going to cut it."

"Come on Yuu." Taiki said as he and Ryo walked towards the two. "I've forgiven him!" Yuu remained unswayed as he took his boyfriend's hand and pulled him away from Ryouma. "Thanks for saving us Ryo." Taiki said with a smile.

"Don't mention it!" Ryo smiled. The brunet then spotted Rika sitting on the ground with Renamon at her side, and moved in.

"Hey princess, glad to see you made it safe." Ryo said with a cocky smile.

Rika shot up from the ground and pushed Ryo away. "What's wrong with you?!" Rika yelled. "After what just happened with Takato you come in here with this 'hey princess' crap?"

Ryo stared at the ground. He knew it wasn't really the best time to act so cheerful, especially in front of Rika. "I'm sorry Rika." Ryo said sincerely. "What exactly happened?"

"We don't know." Rika answered, still agitated with Ryo's previous comment. "We just woke up and found Megidramon staring down at us."

"What do you think could have done this to him?" Ryo asked.

"Dunno." Rika replied. "All I know is that I've never seen that look in Takato's eyes before."

"You guys!" Taiki called out. "We need to go after them before they cause any damage!"

"What do you mean?" Tai asked as a approached Taiki. "This world's already a horrible mess! We've hardly seen any local Digimon who haven't tried to kill us. I say we try and find more of our friends before we even think of taking on Megidramon!"

"Tai, as much as I want to find our friends, we need to subdue Megidramon. Takato's in trouble, we have to go and help him." Taiki replied, keeping his calm. "He's clearly distressed."

"And how are we supposed to help him?" Tai questioned. "If we have other allies with us our odds of taking him down without harming ourselves or either of them will be a lot higher."

Taiki sighed. He knew Tai was right. There was indeed strength in numbers, and as much as Taiki wanted to go after Takato, he knew it wasn't the best option at the time.

"You're right Tai." Taiki said. "We need to find everyone first."

"Izzy," Tai said as he turned to the other boy. "Can you find anyone on your computer?"

Izzy opened up his laptop and brought up the digital world's map.

"It looks like there is a group of six Digivice signals close to us." Izzy said. "Also I've spotted Takato's signal. Megidramon is heading north at the moment."

"Great job Izzy!" said Tai. "Keep an eye on him."

"Izzy, what direction are the six signals coming from?" Yuu asked.

"It looks like their coming from the west." Izzy answered.

"Then that's where we're headed then!" Tai said.

The group boarded Kabuterimon and began heading west. It only took a few minutes before they landed, only to find the remains of a Digimon village that had been destroyed by the collision of worlds.

The group entered the ruined remains cautiously. There were indeed six Digivice signals in the area, but no sign of anyone around.

"I dont like this." Zoe whispered.

The village was comprised of small huts, each one with either a collapsed roof or boards hanging off it. There were piles of scrap wood littering the ground, most of which looked to be charred. A board suddenly creaked and Yuu whipped his head around in response, but he found nothing.

"According to this," Izzy said "the signals are coming from that large hut over there." He pointed forward to a larger hut about 30 feet away from them. Tai and Takuya ran forward only to fall into a hole in the ground covered by boards.

"What in the-" Tai said as he recovered from his fall. Rika, Tommy, and Ryo ran over to the hole to help out their friends.

"You guys!" Taiki yelled "It's a trap!"

A sudden bolt of lightning struck at their feet. Everyone turned to find a group of Digimon that had emerged from the rubble. It was a random assortment of Digimon that under normal circumstances would not be associated with one another.

"Surrender humans!" Yelled the Thundermon that delivered the attack. "We aren't gonna let you cause any more chaos around here!"

"Seize them!" yelled Saggittairmon. Minotarumon, Vegiemon, and Kabukimon rushed in, but Shoutmon jumped in front and held them off with his staff.

"We're not the ones causing chaos around here!" Taiki yelled "we're the ones trying to save this world!"

"Ha! Nice try human!" snorted Mushroomon.

"Yeah! It was a human like you who sent the digital worlds into chaos after the great collision!" a Daremon added.

"Another human?" Tommy questioned. "You mean Dokuro?"

"That's right!" yelled Floramon "he drove this world into despair!"

"Don't hold back everyone!" Sagittarimon yelled once more. "Take them down!"

Gargoylemon, Peacockmon and Kongoumon attacked. Takuya, Zoe and Tommy whipped out their D-Techors and Spirit Evolved to Agunimon, Kazemon and Kumamon. Kumamon used his icy breath to freeze the opposing Digimon's feet to the ground. Agunimon took on Sggittarimon, preventing him from advancing while Kazemon restrained Kabukimon.

Tentomon used his Super Shocker to scare off Tapirmon, Mushroomon, and Daremon alongside Damemon and his tonfas. Meanwhile, Agumon reached down into the hole and helped Tai out of it as Renamon along with Cyberdramon held off Hyogamon and Roachmon.

Kumamon was then knocked to the ground by Nanimon. "Tommy!" Yelled Agunimon. Kumamon stood back up onto his feet and unleashed a barrage of snowballs with his Blizzard Blaster at Nanimon, resulting in his retreat.

"Surrender now and we'll let you live like the other prisoners!" Thundermon yelled.

"Other prisoners?" Tai questioned. "Where are our friends?"

"Right here!" yelled a new voice.

It was Kari, along with Gatomon, T.K., Patamon, Henry, Terriermon, Zenjiro, Akari, and Nene.

"How did they get loose?" Minotarumon asked.

"I let them go." declared a mechanical voice. Tai and Izzy were shocked, then overcome with joy.

"Andromon!" Izzy exclaimed "Prodigious!"

"What are you doing Andromon?" Thundermon asked, furious. "These humans cannot be trusted!"

"Yes they can." Andromon said. "I know them, and they mean us no harm. They speak the truth when they say they want to help us. Please, everyone stop this fighting at once."

Thundermon hesitated, then reluctantly called off everyone. Tai ran to his sister and hugged her, picking her up off the ground.

Takuya, Zoe and Tommy reverted back to human form and Takuya rushed to Tommy's side.

"You ok Tommy?" Takuya asked, concerned.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Tommy said with some irritation towards Takuya.

"Nee-san!" Yuu cried as he leapt into his sister's arms.

"Wow Yuu! You didn't show this much affection to me when we rescued you from Bagramon."

"I said I was sorry about that. I told you I was distracted at the time." Yuu defended.

"Yeah, he was crushing on me at the time, remember?" Taiki said with a smile. This caused Yuu to look at the ground and blush.

OOO

Meanwhile, Dokuro sat back in his throne and watched Megidramon fly across the skies through one of his portals.

"So you've managed to unleash the first great beast." said a familiar voice. Dokuro recognised the voice instantly. The white-haired boy closed his eyes and smiled.

"You've managed to find your way in. Bravo Bagramon. That's not an easy task."

"I've come for my partner Dokuro. That's what they're calling you now, isn't it?"

"I find it best to give this form a new name, until I get my old body back."

"Now that you've unleashed Megidramon, what to you plan to do? It won't take orders from you and you've never been one for mind control."

"I'm not the one manipulating him you see."

"It's Barbamon, isn't it?"

"What makes you say that?"

"Even I know that a demon lord can't be defeated so easily, even by a fearsome Digimon such as Megidramon."

"You've caught me. Barbamon allowed himself to die you see. The plan was for him to enter young Takato's mind upon death, to further provoke his rampage."

"So Barbamon is only persuading him, not controlling then? Takato is still aware and control of his actions?"

"Precisely!"

"Clever. Very clever indeed. But what more do you need with Clockmon?"

"Now, now. I cant tell all my secrets now can I? If you want him, you'll have to face my soldiers. And you and I both know you aren't up to the task." Four Reapermons emerged from the other side of the room and readied their scythes.

Bagramon sighed and turned away and walked out towards the door.

"That's what I thought." Dokuro laughed.

Bagramon spotted Tagiru in the hallway. He had been listening to the entire conversation, unbeknownst to Dokuro. He looked right at the boy then closed his eyes and lowered his head and spoke once more.

"You haven't changed at all, brother." Bagrmon then walked down into the hall and disappeared into the darkness.


	8. Chapter 8: Ultimate DigiXros! GO!

The village of Digimon, having come to trust the group, offered them shelter and food. There wasn't much food to go around but it was enough to stave off hunger for a while longer. Everyone started to catch up with each other over their meal, but not all stories were happy. Rika informed Henry and Terriermon about what happened to Takato and Guilmon, rendering even Terriermon speechless. Taiki and Yuu also informed the rest of Xros Heart about Tagiru as well.

"We think he may have joined with the enemy, but we're not sure." Taiki said.

"But you just saw him go through a portal. That could mean anything." Nene added.

"We know nee-san," said Yuu, "but it just seems likely."

"Did you say your friend entered a portal?" Thundermon asked.

Taiki and Yuu nodded, curious as to why Thundermon was inquiring.

"They say the dark lord Dokuro uses portals to travel around." Thundermon explained. "If your friend entered one, he's probably working for Dokuro now. Sorry to break it to you."

"Why would Tagiru betray us?" Ryouma asked in disbelief. "He's always been such a good friend to all of us, it doesn't make sense."

"Come to think of it, he was acting a bit strange when the two of us were decorating for the party." Nene added.

"Well whatever's wrong, we'll just have to get through to him." Taiki said. "Thundermon, do you know where Dokuro resides?"

"I do!" exclaimed Kabukimon. "He lives in an old castle just north of here, but it's heavily guarded by Reapermons. If you plan on breaking in, you'll need to get past them, and even if you do, he still has many other soldiers at his disposal. When he first appeared, he promised to rebuild the digital world following his new world order. All those who agreed became his servants. Those who opposed his views either were killed, or like us, have gone into hiding."

The sun began to set and everyone decided to stay the night in the village. As everyone went to sleep, Taiki, Yuu and their partners found a small hill outside to stand guard. The two boys snuggled up together to keep warm, and looked up at the night sky.

"You think Tagiru is ok?" Yuu asked as he leaned his head on his boyfriend's shoulder.

"We just have to hope for the best Yuu." Taiki responded. "Honestly I'm a little surprised you're so concerned for him."

"I am too." said Yuu. "The guy drives me insane, but I don't want him dead. He may be an idiot but he's still our friend and I really do care about him." Yuu pulled his knees into his chest. "I used to envy him a little actually. To be so cheerful and carefree, not able to worry anything thanks to his ignorance."

"Tagiru sure has changed." Taiki said. "I just wish he had changed for the better." The two boys hugged and watched the stars for a few more minutes before Yuu noticed something odd.

"Taiki." Yuu said as he pointed off towards the hillside. "It's Tommy."

"He probably needs to pee or something, hun." Taiki pointed out.

"No, if he were peeing he wouldn't be standing on top of the hill. Besides, we would notice him taking out his- never mind." said Yuu as he shook the image out of his head.

"Oh my god!" Taiki said with a smile. "You were totally thinking about his-"

"Shut up!" Yuu interrupted. "I was not! He's like, 11!" He began to blush as he defended himself.

Taiki took his finger and poked Yuu's cheek. "You're cute when you blush!" He smiled and Yuu let out a sigh.

About two minutes passed and Tommy was still standing at the hill top. Yuu started to grow concerned and decided to go check on him. "Taiki, I'm going to check on Tommy." He said and stood up from the ground.

"Ok." Taiki replied. "Come get me when you two start going at it. Wouldn't want to miss out on the fun!"

"TAIKI!" Yuu snapped back, embarrassed. The blonde made his way up the hill towards Tommy who had now decided to take a seat on the ground. Yuu walked up to the other boy and sat next to him on the ground.

"Hey Tommy," Yuu said softly. "You doin' ok?"

Tommy let out a soft sigh. "Yeah. I'm fine." He said. "I'm just a little annoyed is all."

"What about?" Yuu asked.

Tommy let out another sigh. "It's Takuya." He said. " He won't stop treating me like a little kid."

"No offence, but you are 11 right?" Yuu asked.

"Yep. The same age he was when we all first came to the digital world." Tommy answered.

"So you feel like sense you're as old as he was, that he should realize you can take care of yourself?" Yuu suggested.

"That's right. But he just wont stop. But that's really not all that bothers me. Every time he needs to become EmperorGreymon he needs me to give him my spirit to do it. Then I'm just left on the sidelines as a cheerleader."

"Yeah, that would bother me too." Yuu said. "But it seems like he just cares a lot about you. My sister still looks out for me all the time. I don't think it's because he thinks you can't take care of yourself. It's probably because he cares about you so much that he doesn't want you to get hurt."

"I know." Tommy said. "It still bugs me though. I just feel like I've never gotten much of a chance to prove myself to him."

"I'm sure you'll get that chance one day." Yuu smiled.

"Thanks Yuu." Tommy smiled back.

"YUU! Look out!" Taiki called out. A Phantomon had managed to sneak up behind him and was about to slice the blonde with his shadow scythe.

"Rowdy Rocker!" Shoutmon cried, his attack sending the ghost flying.

Tommy and Yuu looked all around them only to discover that the village had been surrounded by Bakemon, Phantomon, and SkullSatamon then the two rushed back over to Taiki's side.

"Greetings children!" said a new voice. "Didn't mean to wake you all!" The voice belonged to MetalPhantomon. Everyone rushed outside and prepaired for battle. Takuya Beast Spirit Evolved to BurningGreymon and flew in for a direct attack, but unfortunately his Wildfire Tsunami want enough to even crack MetalPhantomon's armour.

"Everyone! Digivolve!" Tai yelled out as everyone held out their Digivices.

"Agumon Warp Digivolve to...WarGreymon!"

"Tentomon Digivolve to...Kabuterimon! Kabuterimon Digivolve to...MegaKabuterimon!"

"Patamon Digivolve to...Angemon!"

"Gatomon Digivolve to...Angewomon!"

"Renamon Biomerge to...Sakuyamon!

"Terriermon Biomerge to...MegaGargomon!"

"Cyeberdramon Biomerge to...Justimon!"

"Execute! Beast Spirit Evolution! Zephyrmon!"

"Execute! Beast Spirit Evolution! Korikakumon!"

"Super Digivolve! OmegaShoutmon!"

"Super Digivolve! Tsuwamon!"

"Super Digivolve! AtlurBallistamon!"

"Super Digivolve! JaegerDorulumon!"

"Super Digivolve! RaptorSparrowmon!"

"Super Digivolve! Astamon!"

Taiki then Reloaded Beelzemon, Starmon, the Pickmons, Knightmon, and the PawnChessmons, while Nene Reloaded Mervamon and the Monitamons.

Once everyone was assembled, Taiki then proceeded to give orders to the team. "OmegaShoutmon, WarGreymon, Justimon, BurningGreymon and MegaGargomon will attack Metalphantomon! Zephyrmon, RaptorSparrowmon, and Mevamon will handle one batch of SkullSatamon while Angemon, Angewomon, MegaKabuterimon and Beelzemon handle the others! Tsuwamon, Astamon, Korikakumon, AtlurBallistamon, and JaegerDorulumon along with Knightmon, the PawnChessmons, Starmon, the Pickmons, and the Monitamons will take care of the Phantomons and Bakemons!"

Everyone nodded and leapt into action. RaptorSparrowmon, Mervamon and Zephyrmon were able to take out two SkullSatamons easily while Angemon, Angewomon, Beelzemon, and MegaKabuterimon sent several others flying. Meanwhile Tsuwamon, and Korikakumon were able to fend off a large portion of Phantomons down on the ground. Knightmon lead the village of Digimon in a charge against a fleet of Bakemon, wiping out many of the ghosts in the process.

The Phantomon began to surround Taiki, Yuu and Nene, and prepared to slice all three of them. Luckily Starmon and the Pickmons leapt into action and defended the three.

"Taiki! Starmon and the Pickmons aren't strong enough to hold them all off!" Yuu pointed out as he clutched Taiki's arm.

"It's ok, I have an idea!" Taiki said with confidence. "Starmon! Pickmons! DigiXros!" The Pickmons swarmed around Starmon, giving the golden Digimon a series of spikes along his body.

"DigiXros! ShootingStarmon!"

ShootingStarmon spun around and flew through the air, taking out one Phantomon after another. Soon, all the Phantomons had been wiped out.

MetalPhantomon slashed his scythe and hit Justimon and WarGreymon. OmegaShoutmon attacked with his Omega the Fusion, but the attack only did the most minor of damage. BurningGreymon rushed back in for another attack but was then swatted away before he could make a move. The fiery dragon Digimon fell to the ground and Zephyrmon flew in to catch him. The remaining SkullSatamon let out an attack at Korikakumon, causing him to revert back to his human form. BurningGreymon also reverted back to his human form and sat up. "Zoe! Tommy!" He called out "I need to become EmperorGreymon!"

"You got is!" Zephyrmon responded as she reverted back to human form, and transferred her spirits to Takuya.

"Tommy, come on!" Takuya called, waiting for the younger boy to give him his spirits.

"No." Said Tommy. "I'm sick of having to step aside so you can do all of the work! I'm not a little kid anymore Takuya! I can fight for myself now and I don't need you to babysit me anymore!" The young boy then ran off and Spirit Evolved to Kumamon and used his Blizzard Blaster to attack MetalPhantomon.

"How adorable." MetalPhantomon laughed. "The little polar bear thinks he's a big boy now." With one slash, MetalPhantomon sent Kumamon flying.

"Tommy!" Takuya cried as he ran to his injured friend. Tommy was out cold, blood dripping from his skull. Yuu ran over as well and grabbed his wrist.

"He still has a pulse." Yuu said, relieved. "But we have to stop the bleeding."

"It's no use you pitiful children." Metalphantomon cackled. "You all shall fall before my scythe this very night!" He raised his blade above his head and charged up his attack, but just as he was about to swing it down, he was hit with a barrage of missiles. MegaGargomon had unleashed all of his ammunition at once in the hopes to take out the ghost, but even that wasn't enough to stop him, however it did weaken him severely.

"How are we going to beat him?" Akari asked. "He's so strong!"

Taiki clutched his Xros Loader and thought hard. "What haven't we tried yet?" He said to himself. Then it hit him. "Of course!"

Taiki then turned to his team. "Akari! Zenjiro! Nene! Get your Xros Loaders ready! We're trying something new! Follow my lead!" The four of them held their Xros Loaders up high and called out the names of their partners.

"OmegaShoutmon! ShootingStarmon!"

"AtlurBallistamon!"

"JaegerDorulumon!"

"RaptorSparrowmon!"

The all four shouted in unison. "DigiXros!"

In a flash of light the five Digimon merged together. AtlurBallistamon formed the arms and upper torso while JaegerDorulumon formed the lower torso as well as both legs. On the back, RaptorSparrowmon attached and formed the wings. Then on the right hand, ShootingStarmon became a double sided lance. Finally OmegaShoutmon formed the head while his V-crest attached to his chest.

"DigiXros! Shoutmon X5 Ultimate!"

X5 Ultimate flew up and slashed his lance at MetalPhantomon. The ghost Digimon countered with his scythe and the two became locked in a stalemate. X5 Ultimate pushed away MetalPhantomon and conjured an attack.

"Ultimate 5 Victorize!" he called out as a large blast of light emerged and shot straight for MetalPhantomon. But the ghost was quick to react. He waved his left hand and forced the remaining Bakemon and SkullSatamon to provide a shield for him, but it wasn't enough to stop the blast as it paved right through the Digimon shield and impacted with MetalPhantomon.

"This isn't over humans!" the dark ghost cried as he disappeared into a portal, making his retreat.

X5 Ultimate reverted back into his original components and the Digimon rejoined their partners on the ground. Zoe was holding Tommy in her arms, making sure he was still breathing.

Everyone fell silent as they looked upon Tommy's unconscious body.


	9. Chapter 9: Infiltrate the Castle!

"MetalPhantomon!" Dokuro shouted. MetalPhantomon had just returned from the battle, badly injured. "You mean to tell me that you failed to kill the target?"

"I am so sorry master!" MetalPhantomon apologized. "I was vastly overpowered! Even with the data you gave me, the human were still able to defeat me!"

Dokuro grew angrier. "That's still no excuse for failing to kill the specified Target! You had one simple mission, and that was to kill him and bring me his data, not to engage in combat!'

MetalPhantomon lowered his head. "Forgive me master! Spare my life! I promise to kill him for you next time!"

"There will not be a next time!" Dokuro snapped. "I'll just have to kill him myself! You will take time to recover. Once the human's arrive, you can destroy the rest of them, that is if you are capable of such a feat."

"Oh thank you master!" MetalPhantomon thanked. "I swear I will destroy all the humans!"

"Not all the humans." Dokuro said. "Tagiru! Come in here, would you?"

Tagiru entered the room and knelt down on one knee.

"Yes my master?" Tagiru said.

"The time has come for you to get your revenge! Taiki and his friends shall be arriving at the palace within the next few hours. When they arrive, it will be your job to kill them! Is that understood?"

Tagiru smiled "It's understood master. I can hardly wait."

OOO

The sun began to rise on a new day, and Tommy was still unconscious, but alive. Nene had managed to bandage him up and he was currently resting inside one of the huts, accompanied only by Yuu and Damemon.

"It's all my fault!" said Takuya after punching the wall of another hut. "If only I hadn't been to overprotective of him, this wouldn't have happened."

"You can't blame yourself Takuya." said Taiki.

"The important thing is that he's still alive. once he wakes up, we'll start heading towards the palace, and we'll set everything right again."

Takuya smiled as he and Taiki returned to the rest of the group to make a battle plan.

Meanwhile, inside the hut, Tommy began to open is eyes.

"Tommy? Tommy are you ok?" Yuu said calmly. the younger boy sat up slowly, Yuu supporting his back as he did so.

"Boy, that was sure stupid of me, huh?" Tommy sighed.

Yuu looked at the boy and gave a little smile. "Yeah, it kind of was. and you may have made your situation worse. Takuya's been worried sick about you.

"Great." Tommy sighed. "just great."

"You know, that's not totally a bad thing." Yuu pointed out.

"What do you mean?" Tommy asked.

"Well Takuya clearly really cares about you for one. I know whenever I'm in danger, Taiki's always there to protect me. Damemon too! Takuya just cares an awful lot about you is all."

"I suppose so." Tommy said. "How long have you and Taiki been together?" said Tommy, unintentionally changing the subject.

"We were about to celebrate our third anniversary when we got the call to help the digital world." Yuu explained. "I haven't even been able to give him his present yet."

"What'd you get him?" asked Tommy.

Yuu reached into his pocked and pulled out a pair of silver goggled with red lenses.

"Taiki gave his old goggles to Tagiru, and hasn't gotten a new pair since. He once told Tagiru that a hero needs goggles. well, he's my hero, so I figured he needed some."

Tommy gave Yuu a smile. "That's really sweet." Tommy said. Yuu put the goggles back into his pocket and helped the other boy to his feet, and the boys along with Damemon walked out of the hut to join the others.

"Tommy!" Zoe said as she ran towards the boy and gave him a hug. "how are you feeling?"

"I've been better, but I'm fine." Tommy answered with a smile.

Takuya walked over to Tommy and smiled. "I'm glad your ok Tommy."

"Thanks Takuya." Tommy said.

After another hour to prepare themselves, the group left the village atop their flying Digimon, the villagers electing to stay behind aside from Abdomen. It took the group about a half hour before they reached the castle. It looked old and worn down, made entirely of black stone. A few dozen Reapermon guarded the castle, so the group hid behind a hill nearby to strategize.

"From the looks of it, there is one Digivice signal coming from inside the castle." Izzy said. "There are also two large groups of signals heading towards the castle. One from the north and another from the east. So it look like all of our friends will be here soon with any luck."

"That's good news Izzy." Tai said with a smile.

"Alright then." Taiki began. "Yuu and I will break into the castle and rescue Tagiru. WarGreymon, Justimon, and Astamon will distract the guards while Tsuwamon, sneaks Yuu, Shoutmon and I inside. The rest of you will take out the other guards after we're in. Understood?"

Everyone nodded in agreement. Everyone aside from Tommy Digivolved and proceeded on with the plan. WarGreymon flew up high and unleashed his Terra Force attack onto the guards. Astamon then Jumped in and started to shoot guards left and right while Justimon used his Thunder Clap to send other Guards flying. Shoutmon returned to Taiki's Xros Loader and Tsuwamon grabbed both boys and stealthfully made his way into the castle undetected by the Reapermon guards.

Once inside, Taiki reloaded Shoutmon and the four made their way down the dark hallway of the castle, the only source of light in the hall was provided by a series of torches. Despite the sound of combat outside, neither boy wanted to make a single sound as they walked about the castle for fear of getting caught. soon, the boys found themselves inside a gigantic room, and suddenly they heard a sinister laugh. Yuu instantly grabbed Taiki's arm at the sound of the laugh, and readied themselves for battle. MetalPhantomon emerged from the shadows and ignited his scythe.

"Shoutmon! Super Digivolve now!" Taiki commanded, holding out his Xros Loader.

"Shoutmon, super Digivolve! OmegaShoutmon!"

OmegaShoutmon and Tsuwamon flung themselves at MetalPhantomon and unleashed their attacks, but to no avail. MetalPhantomon had healed from their last encounter but was still not at full strength, but was strong enough to pose a threat.

"It's impossible to fight, humans!" MetalPhantomon Scoffed. "you shall all know death soon enough."

"There's no way a creep like you is going to take us out!" Yuu yelled. Together Taiki and I are unstoppable!"

Taiki's eyes then widened and a smile crept up his face. Taiki turned to his boyfriend and put a hand on his shoulder.

"You've just given me an idea, Yuu! let's Double Xros!"

Yuu gave a confident smile and held out his Xros Loader. In the five years they have known each other, they had never once thought to DigiXros their partners. Bother boys flipped their Xros Loaders and slammed them together. electric bolts shot between the two Xros loaders and OmegaSoutmon and Tsuwamon began to glow.

"Double Xros!" the two boys shouted in unison.

The Digimon partners then began to merge together. the new Digimon featured OmegaShoutmon's head and lower arms, coupled with Tsuwamon's torso and shoulders. The legs belonged to Tsuwamon but his shin guards were made out of Tsuwamon's lower arms. He also featured Tsuwamon's back armor, and had two large swords made from OmegaShoutmon's legs.

"Double Xros! ShinobiShoutmon!"

Yuu couldn't help but embrace Taiki at the sight of their partners combined. ShinobiShoutmon burst towards MetalPhantomon at lightning speed and managed to slice off one of the Digimon's arms.

"No!" MetalPhantomon Screamed. "This is impossible! How is it you are so powerful?"

"It's because we fight for those we love!" Yuu shouted. "unlike you, who only fights to please his master!'

"I have to admit, you humans are quite strong." MetalPhantomon said. "which is why my master gave me backup."

Taiki and Yuu noticed another figure enter the room and their hearts dropped when he came into view.

"Tagiru?" Taiki said in disbelief.

OOO

"Spicy Hard Love!" Bolts of lightning shot out from JetMervamon's shoulders laser guns and zapped down several enemy units at once. The battle outside had been raging nonstop for quite some time. Everyone did their very best to hold their own but the small army of Reapermons stood strong. Swarms of Phantomon, and Bakemon had since joined the Reapermons in defending the castle and provided a strong offence against the humans and their fully Digivolved partners. JetMervamon spun around as three Phantomons approached her and placed two fingers in front of her chest. "Heartbreak Shot!" She cast her hand to the side and fired two enormous pink lasers at them, destroying them with one shot.

Sakuyamon was surrounded by Reapermons and was doing her best to fend them off with her staff. With their bodies so close to her, she couldn't pull off one of her attacks so she was forced to resort to melee attacks to keep them off. "We have to find a way to blast them away!" Rika said as she floated inside Sakuyamon thinking. All of a sudden a shadow appeared overhead and the enemy Digimon looked up to see a flash of silver and a red scarf coming down toward them.

"Justice Kick!" Justimon came down with a flying kick and slammed his foot against one Reapermon's face. As he dismounted from his wounded opponent, he backflipped and knocked away two more Reapermons.

"Looks like you could use a hand," Ryo said with a smirk.

"I didn't ask for your help!" Rika shot back.

"Then don't think of this as help," Ryo retorted. "Think of this like a contest."

This seemed to catch Rika's interest. "Whoever beats the most wins?"

"Think you're up for a challenge, wildcat?" asked Ryo.

Rika smiled. "You are SO on!"

"Celestial Arrow!" A white arrow light shot through a row of five Bakemons and deleted them all at once.

"Hand of Fate!" A beam of holy energy was fired and blasted away several Phantomons at the same time.

Angemon and Angewomon hovered over the battlefield back-to-back with their weapons held out in front of them. "There's too many of them!" the latter exclaimed.

"At this rate, we'll be out of stamina before we can even make a dent in their forces," said Angemon. A massive column of fire suddenly erupted up from under them as eight Reapermons ignited their Bone Duster attacks underneath them. The two angel Digimon were separated and the evil soldiers all turned on Angemon, approaching him slowly with their blades gleaming.

"Angemon!" T.K. ran to his partner as quickly as he could.

"Stay back, T.K.! It's dangerous!" Angemon warned.

"That's why I'm here to help!" T.K. held up his Digivice and it began to glow.

"Angemon Digivolve to...MagnaAngemon!"

MagnaAngemon flew over the Reapermons and activated his sword. "Gate of Destiny!" Making a circular motion with his arm, he cut the outline of the golden gateway to oblivion. The doors slid open and pulled in the Reapermons like a black hole before closing.

"Burst Shot!" MegaGargomon opened up all of his silos and ports and unleashed a massive barrage of missiles at the army of guards that had amassed to stop them. As his massive rain of destruction hailed down on the battlefield, Kazemon flew off his shoulder and glided down to the ground, landing among a group of Bakemons.

"Tempest Twist!" The group of ghost Digimon was suddenly blasted back as Kazemon spun around on her hands kicking wildly with her legs. She got back onto her feet only to be suddenly caught by surprised by two Phantomons.

"Time for you to die," they whispered as they raised their scythes.

"Execute! Slide Evolution! Zephyrmon!"

"Hurricane Gale!" Zephyrmon flew out of the way of their blades and launched her counterattack, knocking away the two Phantomons.

"Heavy Speaker!" Ballistamon unleashed a powerful sound wave from the speaker in his chest and blasted several Phantomons away from him and straight toward Dorulumon.

"Dorulu Tornado!" The canine Digimon spun his tail drill and a strong whirlwind blast forward and knocked the Phantom toward Astamon.

"Maverick!" The coated Digimon swung his legs out and fired two waves of energy that crossed into an X shape that hit the Phantomons and deleted them. As he flipped through the air to recover, he landed on MegaKabuterimon's back and pushed himself off from it while firing his gun as the giant insect Digimon tossed a handful of Reapermons into the air with his horn and then fired his Horn Buster at them.

Tommy stood at the sidelines and looked on as his friends fought with all their might. 'I have to help them!' Tommy thought to himself. He knew Kumamon wouldn't do much good in the fight, and he didn't have enough energy to fight as Korikakumon either, and he wasn't about to go and hand his spirits over to Takuya, but what choice did he have? Tommy pulled out his Digivice but before he could make a move, Aldamon was hit with a devastating attack. Two SkullSatamons had now joined the fight and had double teamed to take down Aldamon. Aldamon fell to the ground and reverted back to his human state. Takuya sat up in pain and Tommy rushed to his side.

"Takuya!" Tommy cried as he ran towards his injured friend. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine Tommy, don't worry about me." Takuya said as he clutched his arm. "you have to get back to safety!"

Tommy gritted his teeth. He had finally had enough. "When are you gonna understand that I'm not a little kid anymore Takuya?!"

"Tommy, now's not the time!" Takuya snapped back.

Suddenly, Tommy saw the SkullSatamon begin to charge up their attacks, and they were aiming right for the two of them and everyone else was too preoccupied with the Reapermons to do anything. Tommy knew he couldn't do anything to protect the attack, but regardless, he stood his ground. The young boy's heart began to race as he clutched his Digivice. He held it out in front of him and suddenly, it began to glow even brighter than ever before. Tommy looked at the screen and saw his two spirits fading in and out between each other. the young boy knew what this meant. Tommy then stepped forward, ripped of the bandages on his head and tossed them aside. he held his Digivice high in the air and was then engulfed in an orb of light.

"EXECUTE NOW!" Tommy yelled out. "FUSION EVOLUTION!"

Streams of Data surrounded Tommy. His clothes were then ripped from his body and replaced with the fused armour of his two spirits. The SkullSatamons fired their attack, only to have it cancelled by the slice of a gigantic pink popsicle.

"DAIPENMON!" The new Digimon cried out. DaiPenmon threw his blue Popsicle swords at the SkullSatamons, sending them flying. His swords then flew back at him and he began swatting away Phantomons left and right until a huge blast of fire swept across the land, obliterating the reapermons, Phantomons and Bakemons. everyone whipped their heads towards the sky to find none other than Megidramon up in the sky, with Takato on his shoulder. Megidramon then fired another huge burst of fire, this time, at his former teammates.

OOO  
"That's right." Tagiru said with an evil grin. Lord Dokuro has entrusted me with your destruction. Reload! Arresterdramon!"

Arresterdramon emerged from Tagiru's Xros Loader and readied himself for battle.

"Tagiru call him off!" Taiki pleaded. "We've come to take you back with us! we're your friends Tagiru! you can't do this!"

"Friends?" Tagiru said, unfazed. "I know who my friends are. my allegiance is clear, and I won't stop until my enemy's are destroyed! Now Arresterdramon!"

Arresterdramon charged up his attack and bolted forward. ShinobiShoutmon raced to guard Taiki and Yuu and both boys closed their eyes, and suddenly, the attack made devastating contact.


	10. Chapter 10: Friends Again! Save Takato!

"What is this?!" MetalPhantomon exclaimed. Arresterdramon had indeed obeyed Tagiru's order to attack, but the dragon Digimon didn't attack Taiki and Yuu, but instead, had thrust the blade on his tail deep into MetalPhantomon's chest.

"You guys were stupid to think I would ever betray my friends!" Tagiru yelled. "I don't care if they do hate me, because I love them and I'll do whatever I can to protect them!"

"You little..." MetalPhantomon spoke angrily and in pain. "You will pay for this you brat!" He then collapsed on the floor and lost consciousness. Tagiru turned and faced his friends, still in shock over what had just transpired.

"Tagiru!" Taiki said as he and Yuu ran over to the other boy. "We're so glad you're safe!" Tagiru frowned. He couldn't look Taiki in the eye. Deep down, he still believed Barbamon's cruel words. "Tagiru?" Taiki asked, concerned.

"You can drop the act Taiki." Tagiru said with a sigh.

"What act?" Taiki questioned. He could sense something seriously wrong in the younger boy's voice.

"I now you guys all hate me. That I'm annoying, and stupid, and that I always get in the way." said Tagiru.

"Where would you ever get an idea like that Tagiru? We don't hate you! None of us do!" Taiki reassured.

"Barbamon said you guys hated me." Tagiru explained.

"And you would believe Barbamon?" Taiki asked.

"He was right though!" Tagiru yelled as he choked back a sob. "I'm worthless and stupid and I'm just a waste of air!" Suddenly he was knocked down onto the floor. Yuu had just punched the other boy on the cheek, sending him to the ground and leaving a big red mark on the left side of his face.

"Don't you ever talk about yourself like that again Tagiru!" Yuu shouted, the anger building inside of him. "We were all worried sick about you. Do you realize that? Don't you ever say that you don't matter to us again because it's not true! We love you Tagiru, and if there is anyone out there who does hate you then they can't be all that intelligent!" Yuu lowered his voice and offered his hand to Tagiru. "You're a wonderful person Tagiru, don't you ever forget that."

Yuu pulled Tagiru to his feet and the blond wrapped his arms around him, pulling him in close. "Tagiru, you may be an idiot, but you're my idiot." Tears fell from Tagiru's eyes and a smile formed on his face. His friends really did love him after all.

Suddenly, MetalPhantomon began to stir. The boys broke their embrace and stood together, their partners readying themselves for battle. "You shall pay for your treachery, boy!"

"I have a plan you guys!" Taiki said calmly. "Yuu, reload SuperStarmon!"

Yuu did as he was instructed and reloaded his Digimon. SuperStarmon manifested in front of the boys, and joined ShinobiShoutmon and Arresterdramon.

"Alright!" Taiki smiled as he held out his Xros Loader. "Starmon! Pickmons! DigiXros!" Starmon and the Pickmons emerged from Taiki's Xros Loader and merged together to form ShootingStarmon. Taiki then removed Tagiru's goggles from his pocked and tossed them at the younger boy. "Tagiru! catch!"

Tagiru caught the goggles and hesitated, wondering if he really deserved them. He looked at Taiki who just gave a smile.

"A hero needs goggles, remember?" Taiki grinned. Tagiru smiled and put Taiki's old goggles on over his head.

"Tagiru! Yuu! It's time to DigiXros!" Taiki called out. The two other boys nodded and held their Xros Loaders up high and each one of them called the name of their Digimon.

"ARRESTERDRAMON!"

"SHOOTINGSTARMON!"

"SUPERSTARMON!"

"DIGIXROS!" the three boys shouted in unison.

The three Digimon leapt into the air and began to glow.

SuperStarmon's limbs vanished and his body attached itself to Arresterdramon's torso, whose arms and legs then gained similar decorations that had been on SuperStamon's. Next ShootingStarmon's spikes launched from his body and attached themselves to Arresterdramon's limbs and back with the two largest spikes attaching themselves to the backs of his hands. Finally, ShootingStarmon's body formed a mask over Arresterdramon's face, the sunglasses acting as a pair of goggles.

"DigiXros! Arresterdramon: Super Star Mode!"

ShinobiShoutmon and Arresterdramon leapt into battle. MetalPhantomon unleashed his attack on the two but ShinobiShoutmon dodged it with ease. Arresterdramon however took the full force of the attack but escaped unharmed as he was protected by his new armor.

"Super Spin Calibur!" Arresterdramon cried. The dragon whipped around and sliced a gigantic gash into MetalPhantomon's armor. Then ShinobiShoutmon plunged one of his swords into the back of MetalPhantomon's head and pulled down, splitting the Digimon in half, killing him.

The three boys smiled and embraced celebrating their victory, but it was soon interrupted by a loud booming sound outside.

"The others need our help." Taiki said as he looked at the other two. the boys climbed aboard their partners and fled the castle.

OOO

Sakuyamon had cast a sealing spell on Megidramon, but the red dragon was much too powerful and broke through the spell with ease. Megidramon then let loose his Meggido Flame straight for Sakuyamon, but luckily Justimon managed to push her out of the way before the flames reached her. MegaGargomon then rushed in and grabbed a hold of Megidramon from behind, restraining the dragon.

"Takato you have to snap out of it!" Henry yelled from inside MegaGargomon. "We're you're friends, don't you remember?"

Takato simply stared at MegaGargomon.

"Don't listen to him Takato." said a voice within Takato's mind. The voice belonged to that of Barbamon, his spirit now residing within Takato's mind.

"They all must die Takato, you know this." Barbamon said "Kill them all!" An evil grin formed on Takato's face and the goggle boy gave his order.

"Megidramon! Kill!"

Megidramon spread his wings, knocking MegaGargomon off of him and sending the giant cyborg Digimon falling to the ground. He then unleashed a second burst of fire in the direction of WarGreymon, Zephyrmon, and MegaKabuterimon, but MagnaAngemon quickly shielded the others from the attack by opening up his Gate of Destiny, using it to absorb the energy from the flames. DaiPenmon then charged towards Megidramon, popsicles in hand and attempted to strike, but the infernal dragon`s flames were so powerful that it caused his weapons to vaporize. Angewomon used her Heaven's Charm to temporarily immobilize the dragon and Sakuyamon and Justimon took advantage of this and managed to swipe Takato up off Megidramon's shoulder and on to the ground.

Megidramon quickly recovered and used his tail to whip Sakuyamon and Justimon, causing them both to seperate back into their respective human and Digimon forms. MegaGargomon had also separated back into Henry and Terriermon and the two ran and joined Rika, Renamon, Ryo and Cyberdramon. Takato got to his feet. the boy was filled with rage and had the look of evil in his eyes.

"Yes Takato! give into the hate! kill them! kill them all!" Barbamon whispered. Takato then lunged towards Ryo but was quickly restrained by Cyberdramon.

"LET ME GO!" Takato demanded, but Cyberdramon wasn't about to obey him. the dragon held on to the boy as tightly as he could without harming him.

Meanwhile The other Digimon were doing their very best to keep Megidramon at bay. The red dragon let out another blast of his Meggido Flame to which WarGreymon countered with his Terra Force. The two attacks collided midway and neutralized each other. JetMervamon then flew in and used her Spicy Hard Love on the dragon, but it did no good. Megidramon raised his claw and swatted her down into the ground, causing the DigiXros to open.

Megidramon then charged up a second attack, but was hit by a barrage of missiles. Everyone whipped their heads to find MetalGarurumon flying into action, carrying Matt on his back.

"Hey Tai! You miss me?" Matt said cockily.

"Like I miss Myotismon!" Tai joked back.

With Matt came more friends. ShineGreymon also had arrived with Marcus on his shoulder, as well as Yoshino and Rosemon and following them came Garudamon with Sora, Joe, Gomamon, Cody and Armadillomon. Finally, MagnaGarurumon flew in behind them carrying with him Kouichi and J.P.

Taiki, Yuu and Tagiru along with ShinobiShoutmon and Arresterdramon; Super Star Mode then exited the castle and beheld the battle taking place.

"You guys, this is bad!" Tagiru said. "Dokuro wants to use Megidramon to try and kill us! I found out that Barbamon's actually manipulating Takato."

"Are you sure Tagiru?" Taiki asked.

"Positive!" Tagiru confirmed.

With that the boys ran across the battlefield towards their friends. "Is everyone ok?!" Taiki asked as he arrived.

"Takuya's pretty hurt." Akari said. Nene was helping to bandage up Takuya.

"I'm alright." Takuya said, gritting his teeth. "I just need to rest is all."

ShineGreymon punched Megidramon across the face and after dropping off her passengers, Garudamon let loose her Wing Blade on Megidramon, but both attacks were no match for the dragon's incredible power. Meanwhile, back on the ground, Rika, Ryo, and Henry were still trying to get through to Takato.

"Snap out of it Takato!" Ryo demanded. "This isn't like you! we're all your friends, you know that!"

"You're a good person Takato!" Henry added. "Remember, you were the one who decided to go after Calumon when he was kidnapped!"

"Henry's right!" Rika said. "You even risked your life to save me when Parasimon attacked me!"

"What about Jeri, Takato?" Henry said. "You wouldn't rest until she was saved from the D-Reaper!"

Takato looked down at his feet, the rage inside building even higher. "And how did she repay me for that?" Takato said coldly. "She rejected me. Some thanks." Suddenly, a dark aura formed around Takato's body, causing Cyberdramon to lose his grip.

"Ryo! I can't hold on!" As soon as Cyberdramon finished his sentence he was flung back on to the ground, leaving Takato standing before the three others.

OOO

Dokuro made his way to the highest tower of the castle. He looked down and watched the battle outside, grinning.

"How perfect." he said to himself. "At this rate they'll destroy each other. Even with young Tagiru's betrayal. But just to be safe..." Dokuro took out a Darkness Loader from his pocket and reloaded squadrons made up of Reapermon, SkullSatamon, Ghoulmon, Bakemon, and Phantomon.

OOO

"You guys! look out!" Sora cried as the evil Digimon made their way onto the battle field. ShinobiShoutmon and Arresterdramon quickly went to work, battling the evil Digimon. Three Reapermons managed to get the upper hand over DaiPenmon and without his popsicles the big penguin didn't stand much of a chance. He retreated and reverted back to human form.

MagnaGarurumon took out several SkullSatamons with a single blast of his huge cannon and Rosemon managed to take down some Phantomons and Bakemons making their way towards Takyua and Tommy.

After a few minutes, everyone was exhausted. Megidramon was still unshaken by any attacks, and the Reapermons and SkullSatamons were standing strong.

Takuya sat up, and held out his Digivice. "I gotta get back in there!" he said, struggling to his feet.

"Takuya, you're too hurt!" Tommy pointed out to the older boy.

"Tommy, I have to go!" Takuya ran of and spirit evolved into Aldamon and flew off into the sky to face Megidramon.

The red dragon was simply too strong. The other Digimon could hardly fight anymore and all had now reverted back to their default states other than WarGreymon, MagnaAngemon, MetalGarurumon, Aldamon, ShineGreymon, ShinobiShoutmon, and Arresterdramon: Super Star Mode.

"Megidramon, now! Kill them all!" Takato screamed with rage, the darkness around his body growing even stronger.

"Giga Crusher!"

"Hyper Launcher!"

Suddenly, two huge explosions of light collided with Megidramon with enough force to send him onto his back. Imperialdramon, with Davis, Ken, Mimi, and Palmon, had just flown in along with ZeekGreymon, carrying Kiriha, Ren, Airu, and Hideaki. Joining them was Yolei atop of Aquilamon, followed by Keenan with Ravemon and Thomas with MirageGaogamon.

The Digimon set their passengers down and joined in on the fight. ZeekGreymon used his Zeek Flame to annihilate the army of Phantomons, Bakemons, and Ghoulmons instantly while also causing serious damage to the SkullSatamons and Reapermons. Ravemon then unleashed his celestial blade at the remaining Reapermons, finishing them off, while MirageGaogamon used his Full Moon Blaster to destroy the remaining SkullSatamons.

Rika watched aS the rage grew within Takato, the darkness growing stronger every moment. The girl couldn't take much more. Rika ran up to Takato and punched him in the face, sending him flying back onto the ground.

OOO

Takato awoke to find himself in the hallway of his old elementary school. The boy wasn't quite sure what was going on. He didn't know if he was dreaming or if he was somehow transported back home. Takato then turned and looked inside his old classroom only to find something quite shocking. He saw himself as he was 10 years ago. The young Takato was sitting alone at his desk, staring as his notepad.

"Now what should I call him?" The young Takato said to himself. "Red-Dino-Firemon! nah that's stupid. Blazing-Dragon-Lizzardmon! yeah get real."

Takato remembered this day well. it was the day he drew his first drawing of Guilmon, the day he saw the Blue Card for the first time, and the day he received his Digivice.

"Hey! how 'bout, Guilmon!" said the young Takato. "Cool! Now that's a name!"

"Ruff! Ruff!"

A yellow hand puppet appeared suddenly in front of the young Takato's face, startling him. The boy shot up from his seat, fearing that his teacher had caught him daydreaming.

"I'm- I'm Almost done ma'm! I'm just taking a time out!"

The puppet belonged to a young Jeri who giggled at Takato's response.

"You're kinda funny!" Jeri said as she walked over to her desk.

"Um, you see, I'm having a really off day." explained the young Takato.

Jeri dug through her desk and pulled out a long brown colored object.

"There it is! Bad flute!" Jeri then lifted her hand puppet up and spoke through it. "Bad!"

"Oooo...kay." The young Takato said in confusion.

Jeri exited the room, and once out of site, stuck her hand puppet through the entrance and talked through it. "Arf! Arf! You better hurry up and write that apology!" the girl then ran off giggling, and the young Takato's look of confusion soon turned into a small smile.

The elder Takato felt pain grow inside his heart. This was also the day he began to fall for Jeri.

"Ah, fond memories!" said another voice. The room turned black and out of the darkness stepped Barbamon. Takato suddenly remembered what was going on. His thoughts had been clouded ever sense he last faced Barbamon, but now he could think clearly.

"You!" Takato said with anger. "You've been controlling me, havn't you? You've been making me do these horrible things to my friends, haven't you?"

Barbamon snickered. "It was not I Takato. I merely provoked you. I let loose the anger you held inside yourself. Everything you did was of your own free will." Takato lowered his head. He had realized that Barbamon's words were indeed true.

"Come Takato, you can get your revenge on the world! The power is within you to cast away all your enemies! Let the hate consume you Takato. The hate gives you power!"

Takato clenched his fist tight. the boy was indeed filled with anger. He didn't feel appreciated, especially by Jeri, the girl he loved.

"Barbamon." Takato said coldly. "You may be right. I do have a lot to be angry about. And power can come from hate."

Barbamon smiled, "good!"

Takato then looked up and smiled. "But even more power can come from love!"

Barbamon grew nervous. "No! You're wrong boy!"

"You said I have the power to cast away my enemies. Well I'm casting you away, right now!" Takato cried.

Then suddenly, Takato awoke to find himself on the ground, the darkness around him, leaving his body.

"Takato!" Rika yelled and she, Henry, and Ryo ran to the boy's side. Meanwhile, Megidramon's armour began to dissolve.

"Everyone! hold your fire!" Taiki commanded. Megidramon quickly shrank back into Guilmon, who laid on the ground weak. The darkness then took the shape of Barbamon who towered over Takato and his friends.

"Barbamon! it's about time we got rid of you for good!" Takato cried. The boy and his partner were then consumed in light, then Guilmon shot directly at Takato at lightning speed, and in an instant, Gallantmon Crimson Mode appeared.

The angelic crimson knight flew into the sky and shot straight at the darkness. "Crimson Light!" he cried as he made contact. The light then washed away the darkness for good.

Gallantmon Crimson Mode then split back into two and Takato and Guilmon fell back to the ground with Renamon and Cyberdramon catching them both.

"Takato!" Rika cried as she and the others ran to his side.

Takato glanced at his friends and frowned. "I'm sorry guys. For everything."

Takato got to his feet and walked over to Guilmon. The little red dragon was unconsious, completely drained of energy. Takato kneeled down and placed his hand on Guilmon's back, the other hand under his neck.

"Guilmon, i'm so sorry boy." Takato said softly.

Takato's head fell as tears began to flood from his eyes and onto his partner, then soon felt someone else with him. He looked up and found Cutemon next to him, holding Guilmon's paw.

"It'll be ok." Cutemon said "I can heal him. He'll be good as new pretty soon. now cheer up!' Boys don't cry you know."

Takato smiled ad cutemon and wiped a tear away from his red eyes.

"Well this boy does. Thank you."

Suddenly, a loud, terrifying scream broke the silence. Everyone quickly turned towards the direction of the scream and gasped at the horrifying sight of one of their own being impaled by a large red lance.


	11. Chapter 11: Loss of a friend

Ryo stood motionless as the large red lance jutted out from his stomach, blood beginning to drip down his body. From behind him, Dokuro smiled as he slowly removed his lance, letting Ryo fall to the ground.

"RYO!" Cyberdramon cried as he lunged for Dokuro, ready to kill. But the evil boy was too quick and was able to force his lance right through his attacker's chest, impaling him as well. Cyberdramon let out a roar of pain as he dropped to his knees, then on the ground once Dokuro retracted his lance.

Everyone was in shock. as much as they wanted to, they couldn't move quick enough. ShinobiShoutmon rushed towards Dokuro but was then thrown back by a slash of his lance. Fortunately he escaped with minimal damage, but the slash was indeed powerful enough to open the DigiXros back into Shoutmon and Damemon.

Dukuro escaped through a portal, then reappeared at the top of one of the castle walls. "How foolish of you!" he scoffed. "You actually though you had the power to take me on?"

"That lance!" Yuu cried out. "Where did you get that lance?"

"Why Yuu, I'm surprised Tagiru hasn't told you yet!" Dukuro grinned. "Tell them Tagiru."

"He doesn't have to!" Yuu said. I'd know that lance anywhere, SkullKnightmon!"

Taiki's eyes widened along with everyone else in Xros Heart.

Dokuro then revealed his Darkness Loader and from it, emerged a familiar Digimon. "Now, DeadlyAxemon! DigiXros!" Dokuro and DeadlyAxemon then instantly merged into the familiar form of DarkKnightmon. Once complete, he held out his Darkness Loader and pointed it at the bodies of Ryo and Cyberdramon. They began to disintegrate into fragments of data that were sucked into DarkKnightmon's Darkness Loader, leaving only Ryo's D-Power behind. Rika ran over and grabbed the D-Power and cluthced it in her hands.

"How could you?!" Takato screamed. "What did Ryo ever do to deserve what you did to him?!"

DarkKnightmon snickered. "He had the power I wanted. You see, your friend Ryo was not who you thought he was. He once fought against an incredibly powerful Digimon and this Digimon eventually became his partner, Cyberdramon. Another thing you must know is that Ryo and Cyberdramon are one in the same, so to gain the power, I had to kill them both! Now with their data, as well as the data of the fallen Digimon I've collected, Millenniumon will once again rise!" A huge bolt of dark energy shot from the Darkness Loader and manifested into a gigantic digi-egg.

"Oh this is never a good sign." Tai said in frustraition.

"This egg contains within it, the very Digimon who will bring forth your demise!" DarkKnightmon shouted. "And while I wait for it to hatch, I think I'll take care of a certain little band of traitors! let's start with the first to betray me!" DarkKnightmon pointed his lance at Yuu and a bolt of dark energy erupted from it's tip,and headed straight for the blonde. Everything moved in slow motion at the bolt headed closer and closer to Yuu. "YUU!" Taiki screamed. The boy threw himself in front of Yuu and suddenly, the goggle boy began to glow, as did Shoutmon, who's body shot directly at Taiki.

DarkKnightmon's attack made contact, but something was wrong. The dust cleared and everyone gasped to see BioShoutmon holding a single hand out in front of him with a shield of light energy being emitted from the palm, blocking the attack.

"DarkKnightmon!" BioShoutmon called out. "We will not let you hurt anyone else anymore! We shall silence you this day!"

DarkKnightmon glared at BioShoutmon. "I must say, I've underestimated the power of this Bio-Xros." The evil Digimon held his Darkness Loader out once more. "So while we wait for Millenniumon to hatch, here's something to keep you busy!" With that, thousands of Diaboromons erupted from the Darkness Loader onto the battlefield and quickly disabled many of the Digimon.

"Everyone! Fall back!" BioShoutmon ordered. Imperialdramon changed to dragon mode and absorbed most of the humans and their partners, while the others climbed aboard ShineGreymon, MirageGaogamon, and ZeekGreymon.

OOO

The humans and their partners took refuge in a small forest that sat at the foot of a hill. Nobody said a word but it was clear that they were all thinking of Ryo. Even those who didin't know the boy were crushed by his tragic death, but none more than Takato, Rika, and Henry.

"I'm so sorry everyone." Takato said as he dropped to his knees, sobbing. "This is all my fault! if I hadn't let Barbamon get to me, Ryo would still be alive!"

"Don't blame yourself Takatomon." Guilmon said sweetly as he placed a paw on his partner's back.

"No, I let my emotions get the best of me! Not only did I get Ryo killed, but I forced you to try to kill all of our friends, and the worst part was that I enjoyed it."

"Believe it or not, I know how you feel." said Yuu as he knelt down with Takato. "DarkKnightmon used me too. He convinced me that the Digital World was a game, and tricked me into killing innocent Digimon. You can't dwell on these feelings because it will only bring you down. You have to learn to forgive yourself. You can't blame yourself for Ryo's death. it wasn't your fault Takato."

"Yuu's right Takato, you're not to blame for anything." said Ken. He and Wormmon aproached the other boys and knelt down beside them. "At one time I was known as the Digimon Emperor. I did terrible things to innocent Digimon, but it wasn't my fault. I was being manipulated by the powers of darkness. I've learned that blaming yourself gets you nowhere."

Takato let out a sigh and nodded, then Yuu helped the boy to his feet.

Meanwhile, Joe was busy bandaging up Takuya. "There you go Takuya." he said with a smile. "Good as new."

"Thanks Joe." Takuya smiled back. the gogglehead looked up and saw Tommy approach. The younger boy sat next to Takuya and stared at the ground.

"I'm sorry Takuya." Tommy said "I've been acting like a jerk."

"No, Tommy, I'm the jerk." Takuya said. "I know you can take care of yourself, but I can't help but worry. I care a lot about you Tommy. I don't want you hurt."

"I know." Tommy said. "When you rushed back into battle earlier, I realised how you felt. You were hurt and all I wanted was to protect you. I know how you feel now."

"I promise I'll start treating you less like a kid, Tommy." Takuya said with a smile. "You deserve that respect." Tommy gave the older boy a smile, and Takuya pulled him in for a hug.

Off by the hill, Tai looked down and watched as Matt Held Sora close as they sat under a tree. Tai let out a sigh and closed his eyes.

"You like her, dont you?" another voice asked.

Tai opened his eyes and found Tagiru sitting next to him.

"Yeah." Tai answered. "I have for years, but I never had the courage to tell her. Ironic I think."

"I know how you feel." Tagiru sighed. "I guess I'm in the same boat."

Tai raised an eyebrow "Really?"

"Yep." Tagiru answered. "Don't tell anyone, but I like Yuu."

Tai looked over at Yuu. The blonde was standing with Taiki off by the trees. "I wont tell." he reassured.

"You think you still have a chance with her?" Tagiru asked.

Tai shook his head. "As much as I want to believe I do, I know I don't have a shot. You?"

"Nope." Tagiru said. "It hurts."

Tai nodded and both boys let out a sigh.

On the other side of the hill, Ren watched as the Diaboromon army off in the distance grew larger and larger by the minute. The boy slid down the slope and rejoined the group. "It's getting worse." he said with a frown. "There's even more of them now."

"Well that would stand to reason. Diaboromon has been known to multiply." Izzy pointed out.

"My question is how DarkKnightmon was able to do all of this so easily." Kiriha asked with a hand on his chin in contemplation.

"Um..." Tagiru interjected. "I know how."

"And you've been keeping this from us this whole time?!" Marcus yelled as he clenched his fists.

Taiki stepped forward and put a hand on Tagiru's shoulder. "What do you know Tagiru?" he asked calmly.

"Well," Tagiru began. "when I was in the castle, I ran into the old watch man."

"What was he doing there?" Ryouma asked.

"Let him finish." Tai said.

Tagiru started again. "He told me that when DarkKnightmon died, and the Digital World was reborn, he got trapped in the human world and as a result, got trapped in a human body. I guess DarkKnightmon's a sore loser because he wound up kidnapping Clockmon and he's been using his power to disrupt the space-time continuum thingy. He said the battle with Quartzmon left a trail from our world to all the other worlds so DarkKnightmon overloaded Clockmon with a bunch of Digimon data from DigiQuartz and forced him to make all the worlds smash together. I guess he must have also done his homework on all our worlds which is why he knew about Megidramon and Millenniummon."

"That makes sense." Davis said. "That old man came to all of us and his Clockmon was the one opening the portals."

"I also overheard The old man call DarkKnightmon 'Brother." Tagiru added. "what do you suppose that means?"

Nene gasped. "That means..."

"It's just as I thought then." Taiki added. "The old man is Bagramon."

"Well it's obvious those two are working together!" Zenjiro yelled.

"That's not true!" Yuu cut in. "If the old man wanted to kill us he would have done so by now. Don't forget, he helped us destroy Quartzmon!"

"Yeah, but what if he betrays us?" Zenjiro pointed out. "If he does then we're just as good as dead!" Zenjiro's words rang loud in everyone's heads. None of them had ever faced odds this serious before. They knew they were vastly outnumbered and their chances of winning were slim.

Meanwhile, Rika had picked up the only thing left behind of Ryo, his Digivice. Takato and Henry put their hands on each shoulder comfortingly.

"Ryo was the best of us," Takato said quietly, "He should at least deserve the best."

"The least we can do is give him a proper memorial service," said Henry. Rika nodded silently.

Mimi had mounded up a pile of dirt on the ground as Kari fashioned a cross out of two sticks and placed in on top of the mound. everyone gathered around as Rika hung Ryo's D-Power over the cross, the screen displaying only static.

"That idiot." Rika said as she choked back tears. "He just had to get himself killed."

"Does anyone have anything they'd like to say?" Kari asked.

"I'll say something." Takato said "Ryo was a good friend, and an honorable fighter. he was the most loyal and responsible one of us all."

"I also have something to say." said Wormmon. everyone seemed a little confused. Ryo and Wormmon were from two different worlds, how could he possibly know him?

"I know this sounds crazy, but I once knew Ryo." said Wormmon.

Ken as well as everyone else was shocked. How was this possible?

"I know that Ken doesn't remember this, but Ryo used to be our friend. It was our first adventure in the digital world together. We all fought against Millenniumon together, but then Ken was hit with a Dark Spore. After that we never heard from Ryo again."

"Wait a minute, I remember now!" said Ken. "I remember, a Dark Spore was headed right for Ryo and I pushed him out of the way."

"Hang on Ken," Davis interrupted "Are you sure this is the same Ryo?"

"Seeing as we fought against Millenniumon, and Darknightmon said he and Ryo shared a connection, I think it's too much of a coincidence."

"But how could Ryo have existed in two different worlds?" asked Cody. "It doesn't make any sense."

"Well we're all here and we're from different worlds." Yuu pointed out. "It's possible Ryo found a way to the Tamers' world at some point."

"But then why wouldn't he tell us that?" Takato asked.

"I guess we'll never know." Henry said as he looked back at the D-Power on the cross. Everyone fell silent and turned their attention back to Ryo's grave.

"Now cracks a noble heart." Yuu said. "Goodnight sweet prince, and flights of angels sing the to thy rest."

Tai looked over his shoulder back at the giant digi-egg in the sky. it seemed to be growing bigger every passing second as the dark clouds grew throughout the skies.

"That's it then." Tai said reluctantly. "How are we supposed to fight a villain this powerful, with such a huge army? I hate to say it, but I don't think we can win this one."

"We've never lost a human ally like this before." Davis said. "Things have been bad, but never this bad."

"Let's face it." Marcus said as he slammed his fist into the trunk of a tree. "We've lost. We've been outnumbered one hundred to one. There's no way we can win. there's just not enough of us. We don't have enough power."

"I can't believe what I'm hearing from you all!" Taiki yelled.

Everyone looked up at the boy who now was standing at the top of the small hill.

"After all the battles we've fought in out lives, you're all willing to quit just because we're outnumbered? This battle determines the fate of our homes! Of our friends and families! We can't just turn our backs on them and leave them to die! Sure, we may be outnumbered, and our chance of victory may be slim, but that will make the victory all the sweeter when we do win! And if we lose, we can die knowing we fought to the end, defending those we love. And if any of you want to give up and leave now, then leave, because I would rather die beside an ally who is prepared to fight to the death for their home than someone who fears to die with us. This day will be forever engraved in our minds as the day we saved not one, but many worlds. And years from now, those who survived the battle will look back on this day and remember the good they did, the lives they saved. We've all fought so many battles in the past, most of which, with time, have begun to blur together. But this battle, we will remember always, every last detail of it. We will never forget it. We will tell this story to our children, to our grandchildren, and it will go down as not only the greatest victory for the Digital World, but for the human world as well! We few, we happy few, we band of brothers are forever united by a bond we all share with our teams, and our partners. These bonds can never be broken. Not today, not tomorrow, not ever! This day, we fight for the safety of our homes! Now everyone, we will reclaim this world, on this very day!"

In a huge uproar, everyone human and Digimon alike raised their fists to the air and yelled with a newfound sense of hope and passion. Yuu walked over to Taiki and whispered in his ear.

"You stole that speech from Henry V." Yuu said.

"Yeah, so? It worked, didn't it?" Taiki smiled.

Yuu grinned. "I want you so bad right now."


	12. Chapter 12: The Final Battle Begins!

The group made their way back towards the castle, each one of them with a new look of determination on their faces. As they came up on the last hill, they could clearly see the Diaboromon army before them, as well as Millenniummon's gigantic egg in the sky.

"You really have them motivated, don't you Taiki-san?" Yuu asked his boyfriend as they looked at the castle.

Taiki turned to the blonde and gave a smile. "Well I had to say something. This could be our final battle after all." Yuu looked down at his shoes. It finally hit him now how serious this battle would be, and that there was indeed a strong chance that he and Taiki could very well loose their lives.

"Taiki-san." Yuu said as he looked up at the other boy. "You once told Tagiru that a hero needs goggles and even though you don't have any right now, you're still my hero."

Taiki smiled at his boyfriend. "Thanks Yuu." He said sweetly.

"Since it's still technically our anniversary," Yuu continued. "I could think of no better time to give you these." He pulled out the silver goggles from his pocket and handed them to Taiki.

"Happy anniversary Taiki-san!"

Taiki took the goggles and placed them on his head. "Thank you so much Yuu. No matter what happens, I'll always love you." He then pulled Yuu in close and pressed his lips against the blonde's. Once the kiss broke, Yuu spotted Tagiru just a few feet away with a very concerned look.

"I'll be right back Taiki-san." Yuu said. Taiki nodded and let go of his boyfriend.

"You ok Tagiru?" Yuu asked.

"What? Oh, I'm just thinking is all."

"The battle?"

"Yeah."

"You know, Taiki really does have a lot of faith in you."

"He does?"

"Of course! He thinks of you as a little brother."

"Wow! I really didn't know that." Tagiru said with a smile.

Yuu placed a hand on the other boy's shoulder. "Tagiru, listen, I know I make fun of you a lot, and call you an idiot on a daily basis, but you really are one of my best friends. If we make it out of this, I want you to know that you can come to me for anything." Yuu pulled Tagiru in for a hug and the brunette returned the favor, secretly loving the sensation.

"This isn't going to make me like boys, is it?" Tagiru said, trying his best to mask his real feelings. A big grin crept up on Yuu's face and he took this opportunity to mess with his friend.

"Of course it will!" he exclaimed as he hugged Tagiru even tighter.

"Oh come on Yuu! I was kidding!" Tagiru shouted as he tried to break free of Yuu's grip.

"Aw! Now I feel left out!" Taiki said as he approached the two boys. Without hesitation, he began to hug Tagiru from behind just as tight as his boyfriend was.

"Tagiru sandwich!" Yuu cried out.

"Come on guys! Cut it out!" Tagiru pleaded, now starting to laugh himself.

"You know you like it Tagiru!" Taiki said.

"No! No I don't!" Tagiru lied. The boy was in fact enjoying this very much.

Eventually the hug broke off and Taiki got serious once more.

"Alright everyone, listen up! We need to take out this army at any cost! Everyone Digivolve! Work together and combine your abilities to fight!"

Everyone pulled out their Digivices and prepared to engage Digivolutions. But before any of them could begin, two large clawed hands attached to whip-like arms lashed out and smashed several of the Digimon to the ground. Everybody looked in horror as the arms retracted back to their source.

"It's one of the Diaboromon!" T.K. exclaimed.

"It's a sneak attack!" Ken yelled.

"I got this!" said Marcus as he prepared his Digivice, "DNA Charge Overdrive!"

"Wait! Stop!" Izzy warned, but it was much too late.

"Agumon Double Warp Digivolve to…"

However, before his Digivolution could even begin, Diaboromon lashed out again and smashed Agumon into the ground.

"Diaboromon know that a Digimon is most vulnerable during Digivolution! That's when they deliver their most devastating attacks!" Izzy explained.

"Then how are we supposed to beat this one let alone a whole army?" asked Yoshino.

"We do it the old fashioned way!" Shoutmon yelled as he conjured up a fireball shaped like an eighth note. "Rock Damashi!" A loud guitar chord rang out from within the flames as the Digimon King hurled his attack toward the opponent.

"Pepper Breath!" Both Agumons came forward and shot their fireballs from their mouths at the same time.

"Guilmon, let's help too boy!" Takato urged, which prompted his partner to move into position.

"Pyro Sphere!"

All four fire attacks hit, but Diaboromon was completely unscathed.

"Lemme at him!" Veemon cried out, "V-Headbutt!"

"Terrier Tornado!"

Terriermon and Veemon flew toward Diaboromon together, but were effortlessly slapped away.

"That was not supposed to happen!" Terriermon yelled.

Diaboromon turned on the two Digimon he had swatted away and began to charge up his chest cannon. Terriermon and Veemon looked up in time to see the red glow aimed toward them and closed their eyes for the inevitable.

"Stop fooling around," said Kiriha. The glow suddenly died and Diaboromon's head tilted back in pain as Cyberdramon's spear pierced through his back. The Blue General had Reloaded the Cyborg Digimon and sent him to stab the monstrosity through its chest cannon, effectively negating the attack.

"Kill him now," said Kiriha.

"Leave it to me." Rika stepped forward with her D-Power in one hand and a card in the other. "Digimodify! MetalSeadramon's River of Power activate!" Renamon held her hands out with bottoms of her palms touching and slowly drew them back to her side. In doing so, a blue ball of energy formed in between them.

"River of Power!" Renamon thrust her arms forward and a solid beam of energy shot out. Cyberdramon pulled his spear out and withdrew as the beam came in contact with Diaboromon and bore right through him, causing him to fall back and be deleted.

"The army knows where we are," said Izzy, "We're not safe here anymore."

"How can you tell?" asked Akari.

"Diaboromon share a hive mind. Once one of them knows, they all know," Izzy answered.

"Then we have no choice." Taiki stepped forward and was joined by Tai, Davis, Takato, Takuya, and Marcus. "Let's take the fight to them! Everyone, Digivolve!" The entire band of teens raised their Digivices to the sky and the screens all began to glow.

"Agumon Warp Digivolve to...WarGreymon!"

"Gabumon Warp Digivolve to...MetalGarurumon!"

"Biyomon Digivolve to...Birdramon! Birdramon Digivolve to...Garudamon!"

"Tentomon Digivolve to...Kabuterimon! Labuterimon Digivolve to...MegaKabuterimon!"

"Palmon Digivolve to...Togemon! Togemon Digivolve to...Lillymon!"

Gomamon Digivolve to...Ikkakumon! Ikkakumon Digivolve to...Zudomon!"

"Veemon Armor Digivolve to...Flamedramon, the Fire of Courage!"

"Hawkmon Armor Digivolve to...Shurimon, the Samurai of Sincerity!"

"Armadillomon Armor Digivolve to...Digmon, the Drill of Knowledge!"

"Patamon Armor Digivolve to...Pegususmon, Flying Hope!"

Gatomon Armor Digivolve to...Nefertimon, the Angel of Light!"

"Wormmon Digivolve to...Stingmon!"

"Guilmon Biomerge to...Gallantmon!"

"Renamon Biomerge to...Sakuyamon!"

"Terriermon Biomerge to...MegaGargomon!"

"Execute! Fusion Evolution!" Takuya, Koji and Tommy cried.

"Aldamon!"

"Beowulfmon!"

"Daipenmon!"

"Excecute! Spirit Evolution!" Zoe, JP, and Kouichi cried.

"Kazemon!"

"MetalKabuterimon!"

"Lowemon!"

"Agumon Double Warp Digivolve to...ShineGreymon!"

"Gaomon Double Warp Digivolve to...MirageGaogamon!"

"Lalamon Double Warp Digivolve to...Rosemon!"

"Falcomon Double Warp Digivolve to...Ravemon!"

"Shoutmon Super Digivolve! OmegaShoutmon!"

"Damemon Super Digivolve! Tsuwamon!"

"Ballistamon Super Digivolve! AtlurBallistamon!"

"Dorulumon Super Digivolve! JaegerDorulumon!"

"Sparrowmon Super Digivolve! RaptorSparrowmon!"

"Gumdramon Super Digivolve! Arresterdramon!"

"Psychemon Super Digivolve! Astamon!"

"Opossumon Super Digivolve! ChoHakkaimon!"

"Dracmon Super Digivolve! Yasyamon!"

"Dobermon Super Digivolve! Anubismon!"

Kiriha held out his Xros Loader. "Reload Blue Flare!" His screen glowed and every single Digimon under his command appeared. "Greymon! MailBirdramon! DigiXros!"

DIGIXROS!

"MetalGreymon!"

"Reload Xros Heart!" Taiki's Xros Loader began to glow and all the Digimon in his army appeared.

"Reload!" Tagiru yelled, imitating his mentor. At once his entire team of Digimon exploded from his Xros Loader.

"I'm actually impressed. You actually managed to hunt this many Digimon. And all by yourself," said Ryouma.

"Yep!" Tagiru said with a grin. Then he suddenly realized what the silver-haired boy was implying. "Hey!"

Taiki mounted OmegaShoutmon. "Let's go!" And with him leading the charge, everyone then rushed into battle, the kids riding atop their respective partner.

"Ice Wolf Bite!"

"Cleansing Light!"

"Double Crescent Mirage!"

MetalGarurumon's missiles fired across the field and struck a small squadron of Diaboromon, freezing them in place. Then Beowulfmon and MirageGaogamon's attacks destroyed them. Meanwhile, Lillymon and Rosemon teamed up as well.

"Thorn Whipping!" Rosemon used her vine whip to tie up a Diaboromon, leaving Lillymon to deal with him.

"Flower Cannon!" The fairy-like Digimon opened her weapon and blasted the virus Digimon point blank through the skull.

"Vulcan's Hammer!" Zudomon struck the ground with his weapon and an arrow of light shot out from the point of impact and destroyed one Diaboromon, but countless others crawled in and took its place.

"Need a lift?" Garudamon swooped in and picked up Zudomon and flew up high into the sky. She then dropped him and the giant Digimon used the momentum of the fall to power up the swing of his Vulcan's Hammer. Once he landed, he took out 5 Diaboromons in an instant while Garudamon destroyed more with her Wing Blade.

Meanwhile, MegaKabuterimon, MetalKabuterimon and AtlurBallistamon stood on top of Daipenmon's head surrounded by a large horde of Diaboromon. "We're trapped," MetalKabuterimon said worriedly.

"Not if we do this," said Izzy, "Aim for the Popsicles!"

"Horn Buster!" A blast of electrical energy shot out and hit Daipenmon's blue Popsicle.

"Bollo Thunder!" MetalKabuterimon followed up and shot the pink Popsicle in Daipenmon's other hand.

"Plasma Crack!" AtlurBallistamon shot several bolts of lightning at both sweet yet deadly treats and increased the electrical charge already put into place by his two battle companions.

"Yeah, let's do this!" Daipenmon raised his arms and swung his weapons around and took 4 Diaboromons almost effortlessly.

"Rock Cracking!" Digmon plunged his drills into the ground and caused it to split open. Beside him, JaegerDorulumon did the same with his drill lance the Diaboromon fell down into the crevasses, making them easy targets for Mervamon and Kazemon's attacks.

Pegasusmon and Nefertimon used the power of their golden noose to wrap up 3 Diaboromons in a net and hoist them up into the air. Then Ravemon used his Spiral Raven Claw to digitize them.

"More coming," Aldamon said as he stood with Flamedramon.

"Give me a lift?" asked the Armor Digimon. Aldamon nodded and grabbed hold of his battle partner and threw him up into the air. Once airborn, Flamedramon surrounded his body with flames while Aldamon charged up his own attack.

"Fire Rocket!" Flamedramon came rocketing towards the ground.

"Solar Wind Destroyer!" Aldamon threw his attack down and combined it with Flamedramon, making his flames even more powerful and taking out two Diaboromons.

Stingmon burst through the center of 7 Diaboromons, leaving them weak but not yet defeated. "I can't. There's…too many."

"Then it's my turn! Death the Cannon!" Beelzemon flew in blasted the wounded Digimon, obliterate them in one shot. Not far away, Anubismon along with Astamon and Lowemon fended off several more with ease and Sakuyamon used her Amethyst Mandala to eradicate the surrounding Diaboromons.

Meanwhile, Kiriha road atop MetalGreymon's head alongside ShineGreymon and WarGreymon as they passed over a large swarm of Diaboromon. The trio nodded as the swarm turned their heads up to watch them, but nothing could prepare them for the rain of death that was about to befall them.

"Glorious Burst!" ShineGreymon's wings began to shine as they absorbed light and he unleashed it in the form of a powerful laser.

"Terra Force!" WarGreymon gathered up energy and focused it into a giant ball and threw it down with all his might.

"Giga Destroyer!" MetalGreymon flew up high and fired all of his cannons at once, raining streams of energy onto the horde. Together with ShineGreymon's and WarGreymon's attacks, the entire group of Diaboromon was wiped out.

Satisfied with their work, Kiriha then pulled out his Xros Loader. "MegaGargomon! Deckerdramon! DigiXros!" The blue device began to glow and Deckerdramon's body split into several pieces and attached themselves to MegaGargomon; his missile silos connecting to his shoulders, his tail cannon to his right arm, his treads becoming one with his legs, and his head attaching to MegaGargomon's chest.

"DECKERGARGOMON!" cried the newly Xrossed Digimon. Armed with new weapons, DeckerGargomon turned and opened up every single missile silo on his body and his cannon started to hum as it charged up. "Gargo Barrage!" In one go, he fired a huge array of projectiles and bombs that took out 30 Diaboromons in an instant. He then turned around as more enemies came toward him and opened up the Deckerdramon head on his chest.

"Deckerdralaser!" He charged up his attack and fired a giant laser beam that deleted his targets.

Meanwhile, Tsuwamon, Skurimon, and Yasyamon were busy fending off two other Diaboromons. Unfortunately, their combined attacks were not enough to take them out.

"Yolei!" Yuu called. "I have an idea! Let me borrow Shurimon!" Yolie gave a nod of approval and Yuu held out his Xros Loader. "Tsuwamon! Shurimon! DigiXros!"

Shurimon then split into several pieces and formed around Tsuwamon. Tsuwamon gained Shurimon's leaf armor as well as his giant shuriken and his spiral limps now protruding from Tsuwamon's cannons.

"DigiXros! SHURITSUWAMON!" The new Digimon cried.

Yolei smiled and high-fived Yuu. "Perfecto!" she exclaimed.

"Spiral Shuriken!" ShuriTsuwamon launched the vine-attached shuriken from his cannons at one of the Diaboromon, but missed when it ducked down. However, he pulled them back and the two stars returned and stabbed the creature in the back. took out one of the Diaboromons with much ease.

"Another one to go," said Yuu.

"Hey, we can take this one no problem!" Yolei said enthusiastically. Suddenly the other Diaboromon shot out with both arms and slammed ShuriTsuwamon to the ground. Yasyamon tried to smack him down with his bokkens, but was failing to even grab the demon's attention let alone deal any damage. ShuriTsuwamon struggled against the weight to free himself, but to no avail as Diaboromon positioned himself over him and charged up his chest cannon.

"Hard-Swung Homerun!" Suddenly ChoHakkaimon appeared and slammed her weapon and knocked Diaboromon off.

"Airu!" Yuu exclaimed.

"Go, ChoHakkaimon!" ordered Airu. On her command, ChoHakkaimon launched herself at the reeling Digimon and began pummelling it with the blunt end of her weapon.

"Strike, Strike, Strike…" She paused as she turned her weapon back around so that the spiked end would hit next. "…Mince!" Her weapon struck Diaboromon hard.

"Bisecting Stroke!" Yasyamon crossed his arms and then swung his bokkens outward, firing a cross-shaped shockwave.

"Digi Ninja Art – Kage Shuriken no Jutsu!" ShuriTsuwamon removed the giant shuriken off his back and threw it. As it spun through the air, it suddenly multiplied into a thousand copies and they all rained down on Diaboromon like a hailstorm of blades until his body dissolved into bits.

Across the battlefield, Arresterdramon swooped in and joined the team of Greymons in their attack. "Tai!" Tagiru called. "I have an idea! I need WarGreymon!"

"You got it!" Tai smiled confidently.

"DigiXros!" Tagiru swung his Xros Loader in front of him and two holographic displays appeared. "Arresterdramon! WarGreymon! DigiXros!" Arresterdramon suddenly gained WarGreymon's shoulder armour, his Dramon Destroyers, his shin armour, and a custom-fit version of WarGreymon's helmet with all three of his horns.

"WarArresterdramon!" WarArresterdramon used his speed to slice through 10 Diaboromons with his claws and tail combined before blasting out a huge fire attack.

OmegaShoutmon leapt in and used his Hard Rock Soul to blast through three Diaboromons in a row. Gallantmon then rushed in and used his Lightning Joust attack to take out two more. "Is there no end to these things?" asked Takato.

"I have an idea!" Taiki used his Xros Loader to communicate with Tagiru. "I need to borrow GigaBreakdramon!"

"Go for it!" Tagiru confirmed.

"Gallantmon! GigaBreakdramon! DigiXros!" Gallantmon's lance was wrapped in light and transformed into a giant drill.

"Gallantmon Spiral Mode!"

Gallantmon observed the Diaboromons approaching him and nodded to himself. He held up his new drill lance and took aim. It began to spin and streams of wind began to wrap around it and soon streams of light as well.

"Royal Spiral!" He thrust his arm forward and his drill extended forward, spinning at incredible speed. Two Diaboromons were caught and killed, but the others managed to dodge to the sides. "Oh no you don't!" Suddenly several smaller drills appeared from the main one and shot out and impaled the other Diaboromons.

"Nice shot!" OmegaShoutmon exclaimed.

"Thanks," Takato said with a nervous chuckle.

ShineGreymon used his GeoGrey Sword to cut through 4 Diaboromons, but their were still several more to deal with. Kiriha looked around the battlefield and smirked. "Time to kick things up. MetalGreymon, Super Digivolve!"

"MetalGreymon Super Digivolve to…ZekeGreymon!"

ZekeGreymon flew over the field and breathed his Zeke Flame to obliterate two more. Marcus then held out his Digivice Burst.

"DNA BURST MODE!" Marcus yelled. ShinGreymon then mode changed to Burst Mode, and MirageGaogamon, Rosemon and Ravemon then followed suit. The Burst Mode Digimon stood together as 8 Diaboromons approached.

"Corona Blaze Sword!"

"Full Moon Meteor Impact!"

"Tifaret!"

"Crimson Formation!"

Together, the four of them used the power of their combined attacks to wipe out 8 diaboromons.

Aldamon, Beowulfmon, Kazemon, MetalKabuterimon, Lowemon and Daipenmon gathered together and all 6 then reverted back into their respective human forms and held out their D-Tectors.

"Darkness into Light!"

"Wind into Flame!"

"Thunder into Light!"

The spirits then flew into Takuya's and Koji's D-Tehtors. Takuya then glanced at Tommy, who smiled and nodded before calling out "Ice into Flame!"

"Unity Execute!" Takuya and Koji shouted. "Unified Spirit Evolution!"

"EmperorGreymon!"

"MagnaGarurumon!"

"Dragonfire Crossbow!" EmperorGreymon held out his sword and the blade opened and began charging up before he pulled the trigger and fired off a powerful blast that eradicated two Diaboromons.

"Magna Missiles!" Missiles were launched from MagnaGarurumon's body and annihilated two more evil Digimon.

Davis and Flamedramon then ran over towards Ken and Stingmon. "Ken!" Davis cried. "We have to DNA Digivolve!"

"Right Davis!" Ken agreed. Flamedramon reverted back to Veemon and Davis held out his D-3.

"Now Veemon!"

"Veemon Digivolve to...ExVeemon!"

"ExVeemon!"  
"Stingmon!"  
"DNA Digivolve to...Paildramon!"

"Desparado Blaster!" Paildramon called out as blasts of energy shot out from the cannons on his hips. The heavy rain of firepower pelted a Diaboromon until he was no more. Paildramon then began to glow as he Digivolved to his Mega level.

"Paildramon Mega Digivolve to...Imperialdramon!"

"Positron Laser!" Imperialdramon fired his weapon and wiped out a line of five Diaboromons in front of him.

Cody joined up with T.K. and the two held out their D-3s as their armor digimon reverted to their rookie forms.

"Armadillomon Digivolve to...Ankylomon!"

"Patamon Digivolve to...Angemon!"

"Ankylomon!"  
"Angemon!"  
"DNA Digivolve to...Shakkoumon!"

"Kachina Bombs!" Shakkoumon opened up the door in his abdomen and several clay discs flew out and sliced apart some Diaboromons while embedding themselves into others and exploding." "Justice Beam!" His eyes fired a pair of bright orange lasers and cut through some more.

Kari arrived next to Yolei and Yuu on Nefertimon who then reverted to Gatomon.

"Sorry Yuu!" Yolei said. "But I need my partner back!"

Yuu smiled and opened the DigiXros and Shurimon reverted to Hawkmon.

"Hawkmon Digivolve to...Aquilamon!"

"Aquillamon!"  
"Gatomon!"  
"DNA Digivolve to...Silphymon!"

"Static Force!" Silphymon blasted a Diaboromon as it tried to attack Yolei, then soared up into the sky to join RaptorSparrowmon for a dive bomb attack.

Beelzemon and Mervamon found themselves surrounded on all sides by Diaboromon as they stood back-to-back trying to figure out what to do. "If only we had more weapons," the winged devil muttered. He then saw MagnaGarurumon fly past and an idea hit him.

"MagnaGarurumon! I need your weapon!" he called out.

Having heard the cry, MagnaGarurumon nodded and cocked his rocket launcher. "Catch!" He threw his weapon down to Beelzemon, who caught it in his free hand.

"Down!" Mervamon did as he said and Beelzemon spun around and fired both weapons at the same time at all their attackers at once. It didn't clear them all out, but it gave the two Digimon the opening they needed.

"EmperorGreymon! Lend me your blade!" shouted Mervamon.

"Here it comes!" EmperorGreymon threw his sword down and it stuck in front of Mervamon. She grabbed it in the mouth of her snake arm and dashed into the swarm of Diaboromons, cutting them down as she went through while Beelzemon ran in the opposite direction shooting anything with long whip-like arms and chest cannons.

Without their weapons, EmperorGreymon and MagnaGarurmon were soon overpowered by the Diaboromons. But the latter was not completely unarmed. After firing off another shot from his gun, the empty clicks finally came and he immediately discarded his weapon and bulky armor before reaching into his hidden compartments and drawing his two lightsabers.

Back at the castle, DarkKnightmon was observing the battle. "They're all doing surprisingly well out there." His gaze then turned up toward Millenniummon's Digi-Egg and he looked back down at the battle. "Though I would enjoy nothing more than to have them all destroyed by Millenniummon, I cannot afford to take unnecessary risks." He held up the Darkness Loader.

"DigiXros!" The black demonic device opened up and streams of darkness poured out and spread over all the Diaboromon. The entire army was absorbed in groups and when the DigiXros was completed, they had become a swarm of Armageddemon.

One Armageddemon near OmegaShoutmon and Gallantmon roared and turned to the latter. "Royal Spiral!" The white knight extended his drill lance once more, but the giant arachnid Digimon tilted its head and dodged it. Then without warning it twisted around and closed its jaws around the weapon, shattering it with a single bite. It then turned around and slammed its tail into Gallantmon Spiral Mode, forcing him out of his DigiXros.

"Leave this to me!" DeckerGargomon stepped forward and opened up his Deckerdramon head. "Deckerdralaser!" His powerful laser was fired, but the Armageddemon had other idea. It turned to him and counterattacked by unleashing its Destiny Destroyer. The two attacks collided midway, but Armageddemon's proved to be much stronger and pushed back the Deckerdralaser until it reached its source and caused an explosion that forced open DeckerGargomon back into his components.

"We're in trouble," said Davis.

"Those things are huge!" exclaimed EmperorGreymon. Mervamon threw his sword back to him and he and MagnaGarurumon looked at each other and charged at the nearest one. However, nothing could prepare them for the power of its Destiny Destroyer, which blew them back and forced them to revert back to their human forms.

"Are you guys okay?" asked Tommy as he and the others ran over to them.

"They're strong," Takuya muttered as he tried to get up.

"Way too strong," Koji said, "We don't have enough power."

"Maybe we do." Takuya finally stood up and held out his D-Tector. "All together guys." Koji, Tommy, Zoe, J.P., and Kouichi all nodded in onderstanding. The six kids held out their D-Tectors and cried out "Ancient Spirit Evolution!" In a huge flash of light, Susanoomon emerged.

Elsewhere, WarArresterdramon was joined by MetalGarurumon. Tai and Matt exchanged glances and Tagiru opened the DigiXros back into WarGreymon and Arresterdramon.

"Let's do it, Matt!" Tai declared.

"I'm with you, Tai!" the blond agreed.

The boys held up their Digivices and WarGreymon and MetalGarurumon disappeared inside their heads as the former's helmet changed color and a body of light appeared between them, materializing into Omnimon.

Tagiru then held out his Xros Loader. "Let's do this Arresterdramon!" The golden band appeared on Arresterdramon's tail and began to glow, summoning a blue dragon of light that infused itself with him. His feet transformed into a larger form with more stability and weight with better claws for grip, his hands acquired long sharp talons, his wings transformed into a much larger form, the trident on his tail changed into a golden anchor-shaped spear, more horns appeared on his head, and his mouth burst open as he roared to reveal several rows of razor-sharp teeth.

"Arresterdramon Superior Mode!"

"Heaven's Thunder!" Susanoomon summoned a spiralling thundercloud appeared overhead and eight bolts of lightning shot down shaped like dragon heads and clamped down onto Armageddemon's legs, tail, and neck, rendering it completely immobile. He then summoned his weapon and lowered his visor. "Celestial Blade!" A long energy blade shot out from the barrel and he swung it to the side, cleaving through Armageddemon with a single stroke.

"Transcendent Sword!" A giant sword covered in glowing runes burst from Omnimon's WarGreymon hand and he used it to cut a Destiny Destroyer in two. The Armageddemon he faced roared and unleashed its Full Scale Attack, focusing all the missiles on Omnimon. "Supreme Cannon!" This time, a massive cannon burst from the MetalGarurumon head. He took aim and fired. His single shot hit one of the missiles and the resulting explosion wiped out the rest in its massive splash radius. He then turned to Armageddemon and charged. He ran under the beast and raised his left arm, slitting open its belly as he made his way toward its tail while using his Supreme Cannon to fire shots into the increasingly larger wound. After taking enough blasts through the cut on its underside, the Armageddemon let out a cry of death as its body evaporated into data.

"Spincalibur!" Arresterdramon Superior Mode spun around and dug the blade of his tail anchor into the back of another Armageddemon's neck. He kept his weapon in and flew the creature's back, dragging his tail behind him and splitting the beast's spine.

As the others fought off the Armageddemon, Gallantmon was suddenly trapped in the jaws of one that had snuck up behind him and began crushing him so hard that his armor began to crack. Takato let out a large cry and Gallantmon's body emitred a huge burst of light. He shot up into the sky and emerged with a full suit of crimson armor and ten shining white wings. Two more sources of light appeared and he grabbed them. One changed into a sword while the other into a spear.

"Gallantmon Crimson Mode!"

Gallantmon Crimson Mode swung his sword as the same Armageddemon tried to eat him once more. But this time he dove straight into the beast's mouth and swung his sword and spear at once. The blades on both weapons cut through its sides and he split the Armageddemon in two across the middle.

"Everyone else is stepping up their game," said Davis.

"Then let's do the same!" agreed Ken.

"Imperialdramon Mode Change to…Fighter Mode!"

"Positron Laser!" Imperialdramon fired his weapon and the power of his attack pushed back one of the Armageddemon into the range of the DATS team.

"Lightning Thrust!" Using his wings like spears, Ravemon Burst Mode flew forward and stabbed his target deep in its throat.

"Aguichant Lèvres!" Rosemon Burst Mode blew a kiss and a rain of hearts pelted the beast's hide like lasers.

"Luna Hook Slasher!" MirageGaogamon Burst Mode raised his halberd and slashed deep across Armageddemon's belly with the crescent moon blade.

"Corona Blaze Sword!" ShineGreymon Burst Mode combined his shield and sword together into one massive greatsword and swung downward, cleaving Armageddemon's body in two.

"Spirit Strike!" Sakuyamon spun her staff behind her and summoned four spirit foxes of different elements and sent them to attack another of the Armageddemon. Her attack failed to do any damage and she jumped back to avoid getting smashed by its tail. She quickly retreated onto MegaGargomon's shoulder, who stared the enormous spider-like monster. Armageddemon roared and fired off its Full Scale Attack.

"Mega Barrage!" MegaGargomon opened all his missile ports and fired every single projectile he had. He intercepted every single missile his opponent had and the rest of his ammunition struck Armageddemon hard. Though wounded, it was still very much alive. That was until Garudamon grabbed it by its tail and took off to the skies with all her might. After she had gone as high as she could fly, she let go and Armageddemon crashed into the ground on its back, allowing Lillymon, Zudomon, Shakkoumon, Silphymon, ChoHakkaimon, Astamon, Yasyamon, and MegaKabuterimon to attack its underbelly.

OmegaShoutmon then fell back, reverted to Shoutmon and stood next to Taiki. "Taiki! you ready?"

"Always ready!" Taiki smiled as he flicked his new goggles. "Let's do this!" He held his Xros Loader up high and cried out his order. "Shoutmon! Bio-Xros!" In a flash of light, BioShoutmon emerged on the scene.

"Super Star Lance!" He summoned his weapon to his hand and unleashed a devastating attack that beheaded three Armageddemon. Once they were vanquished, BioShoutmon then turned around to face his team.

"Xros Heart! Listen up! It's time for a new combination! Kiriha, we'll need Deckerdramon!"

Kiriha nodded and readied his Xros Loader. "Whenever you're ready."

BioShoutmon held out his Xros Loader and his team followed his lead.

"BioShoutmon! ShootingStarmon!"

"Tsuwamon!"

"AtlurBallistamon!"

"JaegerDorulumon!"

"RaptorSparrowmon!"

"ZekeGreymon!"

"Deckerdramon!"

"GRAND XROS!"

The seven digimon's bodies were reshapened and joined together all around BioShoutmon, forming a second suit of armor. AtlurBallistamon formed the upper torso and arms. JaegerDorulumon became the lower torso, thighs, and left leg while ZekeGreymon formed the lower right leg. Deckerdramon split into three and formed treads underneath the feet as well as a cannon for the left arm. ShootingStarmon's spikes elongated and formed a double-sided lance for the right arm to hold. RaptorSparrowmon attached herself to the back, forming large, powerful wings. Tsuwamon also attached to the back, forming cannons over the shoulders and the sides of the torso. AtlurBallistamon's head was mounted atop the right shoulder above ZekeGreymon's legs and tail while JeagerDorulumon's was mounted on the left above BioShoutmon's former legs. The V-shaped crest on BioShoutmon's head was lowered to the chest, and a new head was formed, similar to the prior forms, only with a large golden X across the face coupled with spikes sticking up at each side of the head as well as in the front.

"SHOUTMON X10!"

X10 effortlessly blazed through several Armageddemon and made his way towards Millenniummon's egg.

Kari then ran over to T.K. and Cody. "T.K., we have to help destroy that egg!"

TK nodded and Silphymon and Shakkoumon split back into the Digimon that made them up. The two teens then held our their D3s and their Digimon Digivolved.

"Angemon Digivolve to...MagnaAngemon!"

"Gatomon Digivolve to...Angewomon!"

Ihe two angels joined X10 on his way to destroy the egg. but they werent the only ones to accompany him. Omnimon, Imperialdramon, Gallantmon Crimson Mode, Susanoomon, ShineGreymon Burst Mode, and Arresterdramon Superior Mode along with their human partners also tagged along.

"Everyone!" Taiki called out from inside X10. "We must combine our attacks if we hope to destroy the egg! Give it all you got!" On his orders, the nine Digimon let loose their attacks on the egg.

"Double Shot!" Omnimon fired a blast from his Supreme Cannon followed immediately by a slash from his Transcendent Sword that launched a powerful wave of energy.

"Giga Crusher!" Imperialdramon's laser vanished and a large cannon appeared under his chest head. He cocked it and fired a single powerful shot.

"Quo Vadis!" Gallantmon cocked back his arm and threw his spear with all his might.

"Celestial Blade!" Susanoomon lowered his visor once more and swung his weapon with its incredibly long energy blade.

"Final Shining Burst!" ShineGreymon poured his entire being into his attack and unleashed an incredible explosion.

"Prism Garret!" Arresterdramon summoned several spirit dragons from his body and launched them toward his target.

"Heaven's Charm!" Angewomon spread out her arms and fired off a giant cross of pink light.

"Soul Banish!" MagnaAngemonès hands began to glow as he fired off a powerful beam of destructive energy.

Together, all the attacks made contact and created a large crack in the egg.

"DECADE VICTORIZE!" Shoutmon X10 roared. The crest on his chest shined brightly as ten shining X's of golden light appeared around him in a circle and positioned themselves in front of him into an X formation. Together they joined together into a single enormous golden X and a shining white V of light appeared in front of it before the whole ensemble was fired at once toward the Digi-egg, causing a huge explosion that also caught almost all remaining members of the Armageddemon army. Everyone fell back and rejoined everyone else on the ground, DarkKnightmon's army almost completely vanquished.

And speaking of DarkKnightmon, Shoutmon X10 looked up at the castle to find the evil warrior laughing. "You fools!" he laughed. "You're too late!" DarkKnightmon pointed up at the sky. Once the smoke cleared, everyone could clearly see a large, menacing Digimon before them. Millenniummon had fully formed.

DarkKnightmon then held out his Darkness Loader and forced the remaining Armageddemons to DigiXros with Millenniummon, causing the already gigantic Digimon to grow even larger, and more powerful.

"Now Millenniummon! Kill them all!" DarkKnightmon ordered. Millenniummon unleashed his attack and let it loose on the humans and their partners. Everything then turned to white.


	13. Chapter 13: The Fate of 5 worlds

Taiki shot up from his bed in a cold sweat. The boy looked around and found himself inside his bedroom. "Was this a dream the whole time?" Taiki shook his head. "It couldn't be a dream, I remember it all so clearly." He ran his hand through his hair and felt something odd. It was his goggles; the goggles Yuu had given him before the battle.

"Then this isn't a dream." Taiki slowly got out of bed and cautiously walked towards his bedroom door. The boy raised his right hand and reached for the doorknob, not knowing exactly what he would find once he opened it. He turned the knob and thrust the door open. The entire room was then engulfed in a blanket of white light. Taiki was blinded only for a second. Once his eyes adjusted, he could make out a shadowed figure off in the distance.

"Taiki Kudou," the dark figure spoke.

"Who are you?" Taiki questioned. "And where are we exactly?"

"Fear not Taiki Kudou. We are inside your mind. And I am an ally."

"If you're an ally, then you should introduce yourself."

"I am the leader of a group of Digimon sworn to protect the Digital World from evil. I have come to grant you a new power. The power you need to defeat your enemy."

The mysterious Digimon held out his right hand. Taiki could make out that he had black armor with a golden band around the wrist. The Digimon opened his hand to reveal what looked like some sort of golden USB drive.

"This is the legendary Golden Data Drive. Use its power to unite the legendary heroes from the 5 worlds. Only then will you be able to defeat your foe."

"There's still so much I don't understand." Taiki said.

"All shall be revealed in time. Now, you must destroy Millenniumon and bring balance to the Digital Worlds." The shadowed Digimon then began to fade away.

"But wait!" Taiki called out as he ran towards the Digimon, but it was no use. He was already gone.

"Taiki! Taiki wake up!" Yuu cried. Taiki opened his eyes and found himself in Yuu's arms. The DigiXros he was a part of had opened. Not only that, but all the other Digimon had returned to their default forms.

"What…what happened?" Taiki asked. Yuu turned his head and pointed in front of them. Taiki saw the old watchmaker lying on the ground, his body disintegrating.

"Bagramon jumped in and took most of the attack's blow. He saved us Taiki." Yuu explained.

"Bagramon." Taiki said softly.

"Taiki Kudou." Bagramon said weakly. "It's up to you now. You must destroy my brother." With that, he disappeared and his data was absorbed into DarkKnightmon's Darkness Loader.

"My brother was a fool. But at least now his power will be put to good use. Prepare yourselves, humans, for you demise!" DarkKnightmon raised his Darkness Loader up toward the sky. "DigiXros!

DarkKnightmon's body was wrapped in darkness and flowed up to Millenniumon where he rematerialized on his head from the knees up. His body had been altered slightly. His shield had become one with what was left of his legs infused into Millenniumon's flesh while his lance had been split and become massive red spikes on his shoulders. But that wasn't all; the DigiXros had also changed Millenniumon himself. His body had increased nearly tenfold in size with golden, curved, horn-shaped spikes protruding from his shoulders. Armor covered his lower legs resembling DarkKnightmon's boots while his torso was encased in armor resembling that on DarkKnightmon's chest. His horn had been transformed into a blade shaped like DeadlyAxemon's body while two smaller golden horns had appeared near the back of his head. His look was completed with his lower jaw being covered by a large toothed jaw guard. The Machinedramon ghost on his back flickered as the complete monstrosity let out a roar. "We are MillenniumonKnightmon!"

"Taiki! What do we do?" Yuu asked, grabbing his boyfriend's arm.

Taiki then remembered the vision he had just a minute ago. The goggle boy reached into his pocket and pulled out the Golden Data Drive.

"Everyone! We need to use this Data Drive to combine the powers of the Legendary Heroes! The seven of us will combine our powers into one DigiXros!" Taiki commanded. Suddenly, a light shot out of the Data Drive and split into seven orbs, each one being instantly absorbed by each Legendary Hero's Digivice.

"Agumon! What's happening to you?" Tai asked in shock as his partner began to glow.

"The power!" Agumon answered, "It's charging me up like never before!"

"Agumon Warp Digivolve to...WarGreymon!"

Ken then noticed a light coming from his pants pocket. The Crest of Kindness began to float out and was then reshapened into the Digi-Egg of Miracles. Davis grabbed the egg and held it out, then nodded to his partner.

"Golden Armor Energize!"

"Veemon Golden Armor Digivolve to...Magnamon!"

Takato's body began to glow along with Guilmon. "Let's make up for all the wrong we did, boy!" he said confidently.

"You got it Takatomon!" Guilmon said.

"Biomerge activate!"

"Guilmon Biomerge to...Gallantmon!"

Takuya held out his hand as a collection of data rings encircled it.

"Execute! Fusion Evolution! Aldamon!"

Marcus then held out his Digivice Burst and called out to his partner. "DNA Charge Overdrive!"

"Agumon Double Warp Sigivolve to...ShineGreymon!"

"Gumdramon! Super Digivolve!" Tagiru cried.

"Gumdramon Super Digivolve! Arresterdramon!"

"Arresterdramon Mode Change to...Superior Mode!"

"Shoutmon!" Taiki called. "You ready for this?"

"Always Taiki!" said an enthusiastic Shoutmon while giving a thumbs up.

"Shoutmon! BioXros! BioShoutmon!"

BioShoutmon then held out his Xros Loader towards the sky, as he threw the Data Drive into the air before crying out, "Legend Xros!"

The seven Digimon leapt into the sky and merged into one. The new Digimon featured WarGreymon's arms along with his Dramon Destroyers; Magnamon's pelvis and shoulder armor; Gallantmon's upper torso, cape, and hair; Aldamon's tail as well as calf and shin armor; ShineGreymon's tail, wings, and chest gem; Arresterdramon's tail, feet, and lower torso; BioShoutmon's head crest on the chest; and a brand new golden head featuring eyes concealed behind black opaque lenses, a protective facemask that allowed his voice to echo, and a decadent pointed crest on top of his head.

"LEGENDSHOUTMON!"

Everyone watched in awe as LegendShoutmon took to the skies to face the freshly formed MillenniumKnightmon.

"MilleniumKnightmon!" Taiki yelled from inside the DigiXros. "You have brought nothing but chaos to not only 5 digital worlds, but 5 human worlds as well. You have also taken the lives of thousands of innocent Digimon in your pursuit for revenge. Not only that, but you have also taken the lives of a dear friend, his partner, and even your own brother. I cannot allow you to live for one second longer. It's time for you to pay for your crimes against the human and digital worlds. It's time for you to die!"

"Just try!" DarkKnightmon spoke from within MillenniumonKnightmon as the giant monstrosity let out a groundshaking roar.

LegendShoutmon summoned a large ball of fire between his hands, which grew larger and larger until it dwarfed his own body and shimmered like a massive sun.

"Terra Force!" He hurled the giant fireball at MillenniumKnightmon and watched as it slammed into his target's head. The great behemoth fell forward as the weight of the attack forced him against the ground. But LegendShoutmon wasn't done yet. His armor suddenly opened up.

"Magna Blast!" Several missiles shot out from his armor and flew toward MillenniumonKnightmon. The monstrous Digimon was struck, but the attack seemed to deal little damage. MillenniumKnightmon raised himself up and opened his mouth. The fiery glow of a breath attack began to build up inside his throat and he soon fired off a concentrated beam of searing heat.

LegendShoutmon saw the attack coming and quickly held up his arm. A triangular crest of light appeared and materialized into Gallantmon's shield. He held up the large round object and the attack struck its surface. When it subsided, the shield remained unscathed.

"My turn." LegendShoutmon held up the shield and it began to glow bright white while the crest in the middle glowed bright red. One by one, the triangular golden markings around its perimeter lit up until all of them had been illuminated and he solidified his stance. "Shield of the Just! In a flash, an enormous beam of light shot forth and struck MillenniumKnightmon. The force of the impact pushed him back, causing his feet to dig trenches into the ground, but he dug the claws of two arms into the dirt and slowed himself down to a stop.

"How about I take control for a bit?" Takuya suggested from within LegendShoutmon. The combined Digimon flew higher until he was level with his enemy's head and held out his arms. The Dramon Destroyers vanished and were replaced with Aldamon's arm cannons. Both of them opened up to expose the barrels concealed within.

"Atomic Inferno!" A barrage of fireballs came flying out and bombarding MillenniumonKnightmon. The massive Digimon shifted his head around and roared as DarkKnightmon tried to defend against the fiery rain.

"Enough of this!" the evil warrior declared, "Multi Spear!" Suddenly, several black spikes shot out from his surroundings and extended upward. LegendShoutmon immediately flew away to avoid getting impaled. "Heat Viper!" MillenniumonKnightmon retracted his spikes and opened his mouth to fire another concentrated blast of searing heat. LegendShoutmon once again summoned Gallantmon's shield to protect himself and the impact pushed him away even further.

"Let's see how you handle this," DarkKnightmon challenged, "Cable Crusher!" Suddenly countless slender joint-less arms burst out of MillenniumKnightmon's body, each armed with one of Millenniumon's massive hands. DarkKnightmon then pointed at his enemy and the arms all flew toward him at once.

"GeoGrey Sword!" Aldamon's blasters vanished and ShineGreymon's enormous flaming double-edged sword appeared, which LegendShoutmon grasped in his right hand. "Gram!" He held out his left hand and a beam of light wrapped around his arm and materialized into Gallantmon's lance.

"Let's do this!" shouted Taiki.

LegendShoutmon launched himself forward into the enormous fray and began swinging. His blades cut through his enemy's arms, severing them with each blow and causing each limb to delete from the wound up.

"We're getting creamed out here!" Takato exclaimed to the other two boys inside LegendShoutmon.

"They're coming from all directions!" Takuya reported.

"Stay focused!" Taiki told his two partners, "We can get through this. Takato, can you aim at DarkKnightmon?"

"It's a narrow shot, but yeah I can," said Takato.

"Then fire when ready," Taiki instructed.

Outside, LegendShoutmon swung his weapons and hacked away a good mass of arms before bringing his left arm around and taking aim. "Lightning Joust!" White lightning wrapped itself around his lance and the powerful warrior released it in a single burst that struck DarkKnightmon hard from above.

"Crush him!" ordered the dark warrior. All of the arms attacked at once and wrapped their hands completely around LegendShoutmon.

"Oh no!" gasped Yuu as he watched from the ground.

"Now squeeze!" The arms tightened their grip and LegendShoutmon cried out in pain.

"We gotta do something!" Tagiru shouted.

"Spincalibur!" All of a sudden, LegendShoutmon broke into a vertical spin and cut himself free of his limb prison using all three of his tails. "Spiral Shredder!" His body now started to spin continuously and he flew all over the air cutting through arms en masse. Once he was free and his opponent began to run low on arms, he absorbed light through his wings and focused it into the gem on his chest.

"Glorious Burst!" A beam of concentrated sunlight was fired at high speed and struck MillenniumKnightmon in the face.

"This is the end for you!" DarkKnightmon shouted.

"We're only just getting started! Shining Blast!" LegendShoutmon surrounded himself with a radiant aura and flew in and tackled his opponent hard.

"I will not be defeated!" MillenniumKnightmon swatted his opponent away and began charging up his cannons. "Giga Cannon!" Two gargantuan energy blasts were fired and smashed into LegendShoutmon with such terrifying power that he was thrown far. MillenniumKnightmon continued firing, never letting up his assault. LegendShoutmon swung his weapons trying to break each blast as it came but every impact he made pushed him back further.

"We have to get closer!" Takato said.

"Follow my lead!" ordered Taiki.

LegendShoutmon dismissed his weapons and reclaimed his Dramon Destroyers. He held them over his head and straightened his body. "Nova Force!" He started to spin and soon surrounded himself in an orange tornado in which he flew back toward MillenniumKnightmon. The evil monstrosity kept up its attack but his enemy kept avoiding his blasts. Finally, LegendShoutmon broke through and came in contact with the giant terror's body. He continued boring harder and harder trying to penetrate his armor.

Finally, a crack appeared and soon he had successfully broken through and drilled his way into MillenniumKnightmon. He came to a stop halfway and his armor started to shine. "Magna Explosion!" An orb of light surrounded his body and expanded to engulf his enemy. A massive explosion erupted from within and the light forced everyone to cover their eyes.

When the radiance finally subsided, everybody looked up to see a good chunk of MillenniumKnightmon's body had been blown clean off, but the giant monster was still very much alive. LegendShoutmon flew away as his enemy tried to grab him.

"Would this thing just die already!?" exclaimed Koji.

"Bio Victorize!" LegendShoutmon fired a V-shaped beam from his chest and then charged up a large sphere of fire in between his hands. "Solar Wind Destroyer!" He threw it and combined it with his Bio Victorize which struck MillenniumKnightmon but it still wasn't enough to faze him.

"Is that really the best you can do?" MillenniumKnightmon scoffed. The evil Digimon's Machinedramon ghost then sprouted wings made of pure darkness and took to the skies to meet LegendShoutmon. "Ultimate Hellfire!" The evil Digimon screamed out as black flames engulfed the skies around LegendShoutmon.

"TAIKI!" Yuu screamed from the ground. Yuu desperately wanted to help Taiki but the blond was so scared, that his mind only drew blanks. He had no idea what to do.

Meanwhile, inside of LegendShoutmon, Taiki, Takato, and Takuya felt the intense pain of the hellfire around them. "There has to be some way we can win!" Takuya said. "There just has to! We didn't come all this way to lose!"

"I can't let Ryo's death be in vain," said Takato. "I can't let it end like this! Not now!"

"We can do this you guys!" Taiki added. "We have to have faith in ourselves, and in our friends! We can't give up!"

Suddenly, the Golden Data Drive manifested itself in front of the three boys.

"The Data Drive?" Taiki said curiously.

"Taiki!" said Shoutmon's voice. "The data drive is casting away the flames!" Shoutmon was indeed correct. The flames were slowly subsiding.

"What?! How can this be?!" MillenniumKnightmon exclaimed. The Golden Data Drive then shot out from LegendShoutmon's chest and soared toward the ground before being absorbed into Yuu's Xros Loader.

Yuu's eyes widened. He now knew exactly how he, and everyone else, could help. "Everyone! I know how to help our friends! But I'm going to need all of our Digimon's power to do it!"

"What do you have in mind Yuu?" Tagiru asked.

"We're going to combine our powers and give LegendShoutmon the weapon he needs to defeat MillenniumKnightmon!" Yuu then held up his Xros Loader.

"Everyone! DigiXros Now!"

Each and every Digimon present on the battlefield began to glow and suddenly shot towards the sky directly above Yuu's Xros Loader. Yuu focused all of his energy into this DigiXros, a DigiXros so big, that it quickly took a huge toll on the boy. Tagiru then put a hand on Yuu's Xros Loader, followed by Nene, then the three other Legendary Heroes supported the boy's back. A stream of blood dripped from Yuu's nose as this new weapon began to take shape. Images of Taiki flashed through Yuu's mind, further motivating him to complete the weapon in time. The love he felt for the boy and the desire to see his face once more were the exact motivation the boy needed to finish the DigiXros.

"Now! Legend Sword of Theseus! Rise!"

The weapon formed was a gigantic golden double-edged sword with seven runes representing the seven generations of heroes emblazoned along the blade. It shot straight up into the sky towards LegendShoutmon. Yuu then collapsed into Tagiru's arms and the others looked up to see the battle take place.

The sword flew forth and appeared between LegendShoutmon and MillenniumKnightmon.

"Takyuya!" Tommy cried out. "You can do it! I know you can! Teach this looser a lesson!"

"Takato you'd better not let us down you goggle-head!" Rika cried. "We belive in you!"

"Taiki! Show him your true power!" Kiriha called out. "Take him down and save our world!"

"This is it!" said Takuya.

"This is the moment!" shouted Takato.

"Everybody's power is here," said Taiki.

"You can do this!" shouted Tai, his words echoing across the battlefield and illuminating the first rune.

"We're rooting for you! Take him down!" yelled Davis, causing the second rune to light up.

"We can't let him win," said Takato, "We have to do this. We're going to do this!" The third rune lit up.

"This is for everyone. Our friends. Our loved ones. Everybody!" Takuya's words caused the fourth rune to start glowing.

"We fight til the bitter end! Now let's deal the final blow!" shouted Marcus as the fifth rune began to shine.

"We will defeat you, DarkKnightmon!" Taiki swore, "And we'll do it with everybody's power combined!" The sixth rune lit up.

All eyes turned to Tagiru. The boy looked down at Yuu in his arms and the blond looked back up at him and smiled. He could feel tears welling up in his eyes and he gave him a solid nod.

"LegendShoutmon! Finish him!" Tagiru's words echoed and the seventh and final rune lit up and the sword's blade was wrapped in a shining golden light.

"Yuu, Tagiru, This one's for you guys!" Taiki cried, and he, Takato, and Takuya let out one final battle cry.

"Absolute Genocide!" MillenniumKnightmon screamed as he let loose a powerful blast of darkness and chaos.

LegendShoutmon took his sword and sliced through the attack, splitting it in two as he continued coming down on his target.

"FINAL JUDGEMENT!" The light around the sword extended into a massive blade and LegendShoutmon swung and his weapon impacted MillenniumKnightmon, carving through the evil Digimon down the middle.

"NO!" DarkKnightmon shouted, "My revenge…shall…be-" His words were cut off as LegendShoutmon's blade cleaved him in half. The blade continued down as the monstrosity began to split apart. The agonizing cry of the digital terror filled the air. Just as he completed his task, MillenniumKnightmon's Machinedramon ghost reached out and closed its mouth around LegendShoutmon, but the heroic Digimon was quick to act. He whiped his giant sword around and sliced right through the ghost, then proceeded to plunge the sword straight down the mouth of MilleniumKnightmon, resulting in one massive explosion in the sky.

"TAIKI!" Yuu screamed as tears gushed from his eyes. The sky was covered in smoke from the explosion with no sign of any survivors. A few seconds later, dozens of beams of light suddenly fell from the sky, each one a Digimon ally, completely fine.

"Tai!" Agumon said with glee as he landed into Tai's arms. The brunet spun his partner around as he caught him. One by one, each Digimon returned safely to the ground but there was still no sign of Taiki, Takato, Takuya, or their partners.

"Damemon, please tell me Taiki's ok!" Yuu said as he struggled to his feet.

Damemon looked down at the ground and a frowned formed on his face. "I'm sorry Yuu. I didn't see him. Dame Dame."

"No. Yuu spoke as tears fell from his face to the ground below. Tagiru pulled Yuu in and hugged him tightly.

"Hey! Don't mourn for us just yet!" said a raspy voice from the sky.

Yuu and Tagiru gazed up at the sky and found Shoutmon falling towards them, and following him were Takato, Guilmon, Takuya, and lastly, Taiki. The older looked exhausted but still wore that same little smile on his face.

Yuu shot up and leapt into the air and caught his boyfriend and hugged him tighter than ever before. His tears of sadness quickly became tears of joy and he buried his face into Taiki's shoulder. The brunet ran his fingers through Yuu's soft, golden hair. The two then shared a kiss and afterwards walked to rejoin the group. Kiriha approached Taiki, Yuu, and the other Legendary Heroes. He was holding DarkKnightmon's Darkness Loader.

"I saw it fall from the sky along with the Digimon. I don't know how, but it somehow survived the blast." Kiriha said. All of a sudden, a Digimon shot out of the Darkness Loader and manifested in front of everyone.

"Clockmon!" Taiki exclaimed. Clockmon looked very beaten and weak. DarkKnightmon clearly had abused the small Digimon's power while he had possession of him.

"Thank you so much everyone." Clokmon said with huge relief in his voice.

"Clockmon," Taiki began, "I'm sorry to ask this of you in your present state, but are you able to return our worlds to normal?"

Clockmon nodded. "It would be my pleasure. But it would require a great deal of strength."

Yuu then reloaded the Data Drive from his Xros Loader. "Maybe this will help? It seems to have a lot of power."

"It's worth a shot. Taiki said.

Yuu held the Data Drive out and pointed it at Clockmon. Gold energy shot from it and recharged Clockmon. The little Digimon then summoned up all of his strength, and suddenly, the earth began to shake. Five portals opened up, each one leading to one of the five human worlds.

"Well, I guess this is goodbye." Takato said with melancholy in his voice.

"Yeah, for now anyway." Kari smiled. "Something just tells me this isn't the last we'll see of each other."

Everyone quickly said their goodbyes, and suddenly, the portals sucked everyone in aside from Taiki and his team.

"There's still one more thing left to take care of before we go," said Taiki. Kiriha came forward with the Darkness Loader.

"Give it to me," said Shoutmon. Kiriha did as requested and handed the device to the Digimon King. Shoutmon placed it on the ground and then brought his microphone down on it, smashing the Darkness Loader to bits.

"That's the last we'll see of that accursed thing," said Taiki.

"I hope," Yuu whispered.

Taiki and the others then proceeded to walk through their portal and dissapear back to their human world. Clockmon collapsed on the ground then dissolved into fragments of data. His task had now been completed. The five worlds had been fully restored.

OOO

Taiki, Yuu and Nene entered the Amanos' apartment safely as the sun set on the human world. "According to Wisemon, the Digital Worlds have been fully restored!" Taiki smiled.

"That's great news." Nene said with relief.

Taiki joined Yuu on the couch as Nene grabbed each boy a slice of cake.

"Talk about an eventful day, huh Yuu?" Taiki said then placed a bite of cake in his mouth.

"Yeah. This is one anniversary I'll never forget." Yuu answered.

"Sorry your surprise party had to end so quick you guys," said Nene.

"It's ok." Yuu said. "Either way, this day would have been a lot different than we planned."

Suddenly a knock was heard at the door. Nene got up from the couch to see who it was. She looked through the peephole and smiled as she opened the door.

"Hey Nene." Tagiru said with a smile. The boy was holding a small box. "Hey guys!" He greeted as he walked in. "I forgot to give this to you earlier. It's your present!"

"Tagiru forgetting something? No, that's impossible." Yuu teased.

"Well if your going to be like that, maybe I'll just keep this for myself!" Tagiru said smugly.

Taiki got up and walked over to Tagiru and took the small box from him. "Thanks Tagiru." He walked back, sat down on the couch next to Yuu, and opened up the box. Inside was a framed photo of Taiki, Yuu and Tagiru taken after their last basketball victory this past summer.

"I know it's not much, but I couldn't really afford anything." Tagiru said.

Taiki and Yuu smiled at each other. It really was a very sweet thing for Tagiru to do. "It's great Tagiru, thank you so much." Yuu said sweetly.

"You're not messing around with me again, are you?" Tagiru asked.

"He's not, Tagiru. We really do love it," Taiki assured him.

"Well I'm glad! I should get going now." said Tagiru.

"Hang on Tagiru," Taiki said. It's really dark out. You should just stay the night."

Yuu let out a very audible sigh from the couch and Taiki giggled at his boyfriend's agony.

"Really? Tagiru asked. "I don't want to get in the way."

"Don't worry, Tagiru." Nene said with a smile. "I'm already in their way as it is."

"That's true." Taiki said "I knew I wasn't going to get any action out of Yuu when I saw you here anyway."

"TAIKI!" Yuu blushed as he elbowed his boyfriend in the ribs, but Taiki just giggled.

"Here Tagiru, have some cake." Nene offered. Tagiru gladly took the plate with the cake slice on it and dug in. After a while, Taiki and Yuu decided it was time to retire for the night, leaving Tagiru and Nene alone on the couch.

"Tell me something Tagiru, and be honest." Nene said. "You have a crush on my brother don't you?"

Tagiru took a deep breath, and with a sigh he answered. "Yeah. I do."

"I had a feeling you did. You seemed so sad when we were decorating for the party. Plus, the way you look at Yuu is the same way Yuu used to look at Taiki."

"I know I don't have a chance with him. I'm just happy that he's happy with Taiki-san."

"I'm sure you'll find someone to love you just the same." Nene reassured.

"You really think so?"

"Of course." Nene answered, "You're a cutiepie, Tagiru." Tagiru blushed and looked down at his feet. "Here, I'll get you a blanket and pillow." she offered.

"Thanks Nene." Tagiru said. "Also, promise you won't tell Taiki or Yuu?"

"I promise." Nene smiled.

OOO

"Hey Yuu," Taiki said.

"Yeah?"

"I want to give you one last present."

"Taiki, Tagiru and my sister are here, besides, I'm way too tired to have se-"

"No, not that." Taiki chuckled. The brunette reached into his bag and pulled out an old green pair of goggles. "These are the goggles I wore during the war all those years ago. I want you to have them Yuu. You've really earned them." He handed them to his boyfriend and a huge smile crept up Yuu's face.

"Thank you so much Taiki." Yuu said sweetly. "I love you."

"Love you too Yuu." Taiki responded.

Yuu unloaded his pockets before changing out of his pants and discovered the Golden Data Drive.

"I almost forgot I had this." Yuu said. "By the way, how did you get it Taiki?"

"Honestly, I'm not too sure." Taiki answered. "A shadowy Digimon appeared to me in my mind and told me to use its power. He said that all would be revealed in time."

Taiki crawled into Yuu's bed and Yuu quickly followed after throwing on a soft pair of shorts and a t-shirt.

"Odds are there's going to be some other sicko out there who wants to destroy the world then." Yuu chuckled.

"And when he shows up, we'll take him out together." Taiki smiled as he snuggled up with his boyfriend. The two boys laughed and held each other tight under the covers. Just as Yuu started to drift off to sleep however, Taiki whispered something in his ear that brought a smile to his face.

"I would not wish any companion in the world but Yuu."

THE END


End file.
